IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 

1980 


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V  signifie  "FIN". 

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Carleton  University 

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iliustre  la  mdthode  : 


1 


RELICS   OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


i 


# 


WORKS  BY 

Sir  J.  William  Dawson, 

LL.I>.,  F.R.S.,  etc. 

Eden  Lost  and  Won.     Studies  of  the  Early  History 
and  Final  Destiny  of  Man,  as  taught  in  Nature  and 

Revelation,     izmo,  cloth $12- 

The  work  is  In  two  parts.  Part  I.  considers  the 
physical  and  historical  probabilities  respectinir  the 
authorship  and  authority  of  the  Mosaic  books.  Part 
II.  treats  of  man  and  nature,  fallen  and  restored. 
The  Historical  Deluge.  Its  relation  to  Scientific 
Discovery  and  to  Present  Questions.    i2mo,  boards 

»<,Juh  "  T^^i  ^^i^^*i*?f7  staiemem."  *  will'  be  v*;^ 

useiul.  '—  /Ae  New  York  Observer. 

^Tn„«f«?.'l"*T"**'"*?T"'    Qeo«o«y    and    History. 

Illustrated.    Loweh  Lectures,  1894.    lamo,  cloth  1.25 
We  commend  these  lectures  heartily  to  all  who 
are  anxious  to  have  a  clear  understanding  of  this  im- 
portant discussion."-  The  Living  Church 
Modern  ideas  of  Evoiution  as  reiated  to  Revela- 
tion   and    Science.     Sixth   Edition,  Revised  and 

Enlarged.    i2mo,cloth "Z 

'  Dr.  Dawson  is  himself  a  man  of  eminent"  judicial 
Sl!^'  a  widely  read  scholar,  and  a  close,  profound 
thinl^er,  which  makes  the  blow  he  deals  the  Evolution 
hypothesis  all  the  heavier.  We  commend  it  to  our 
readers  as  one  of  the  most  thorough  and  searchinff 
at°^ork  ^^^^'^^  ^^^  published.^'- 7Vi#  Christial 

^^L^r^'^—  **'  4'*c'"  Qeologrical  Time.  A  sketch  of 
f  M  V'^'Pa  *"4,  Succession  of  Animals  and  Plants. 
J!oth.''^  '"'''  ^'"""'^  -ff^^V/Vw.     i2mo, 

^Efon1"*'R^Y''5-  Jheir  Physical  "p^iures  "in  R^ 
lation  to  Bible  History.  Second  Edition,  Revised  and 
£nl<xrged.  With  many  Illustrations.  '^  ByPathsof 
Bible  Knowledge,"  Vol.  VI.    lamo,  cloth. ... , . , .  x  20 


Fleming:  H.  Revell  Company 


New  York:  112  Fifth  Ave. 
Chicago:  63  Washington 
Toronto  :  140  &  14a  Yonge 


St. 

±1 


I 


w 


i 


I 


k 


k 


Cryptozoon  Boreale,  Da-ivson. 


Two  divisions  or  branches  of  a  large  specimen  collected  by  Mr.  E.  T.  Chambers  in 
the  Oidovician  of  Lake  St.  John.    {Set  Appendix  D.) 

\Frontu. 


RELICS  OF 
PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


BEGINNING    OF    LIFE    IN   THE 
DAWN  OF  GEOLOGICAL  TIME 


BY 


SIR    J.   WILLIAM    DAWSON 

LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  Etc. 


IVITH  SIXTY-FIVE  ILLUSTRATIONS 


1^ 


NEW  YORK      CHICAGO      TORONTO 
FLEMING    H.    REVELL   COMPANY 

1897 


The  substance  of  a  Course  of  Lectures  on  Pre-Cambrian  Fossils  ^ 

delivered  in  the  Lowell  Institute^  Boston^ 

in  November y  1895 


AUGUSTUS   LOWELL   Esq 

Vice-Presuient  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  ScUnctt 
Trustee  of  the  Lowell  Institute 

AS    THE    WISE    AND    LIBERAL    ADMINISTRATOR    OF    A    NOBLB 

ENDOWMENT   FOR  THE  ADVANCEMENT  AND   DIFFUSION 

OF   KNOWLEDGE 

THIS   WORK   IS   DEDICATED 
WITH    MUCH    RESPECT    AND    ESTEEM 

BY  THE  AUTHOR 


I 

I 


J 

i 


PREFACE 

TT  is    now  more    than    thirty-five    years    since   the 
announcement    was    made    of    the    discovery    of 

remains   supposed  to  indicate  the  existence  of  animal 
life  in  the  oldest  rocks    known  to  geolocrists.     It  was 
hailed  with  enthusiasm   by  some  as  "  opening   a   new 
era    in    geological   science";     but   was   regarded   with 
scepticism    by  others,  in  consequence  of  the   condition 
and    mineral  character  of  the   supposed  fossil,  and  be- 
cause of  the  great  interval  in  time  between  the  oldest 
animal     remains    previously    known    and    these    new 
claimants  for  recognition.     Since  that  time,  many  new 
facts   have    been  learned,  and   the   question   has   been 
under  almost  continuous   discussion    and   debate,  with 
various  fortunes,  in  different  quarters. 


vu 


viii 


PREFACE 


The  author  was  associated  with  the  original  discovery 
and  description  of  these  supposed  earliest  traces  of 
life ;  and  has  since,  in  the  intervals  of  other  work, 
devoted  much  time  to  further  exploration  and  research, 
the  results  of  which  have  been  published  from  time  to 
time  in  the  form  of  scientific  papers.  He  has  also 
given  attention  to  the  later  discoveries  which  have 
tended  to  fill  up  the  gap  between  the  Lr  rentian  fossil 
and  its  oldest  known  successors. 

In  1875  hs  endeavoured  to  sum  up  in  a  popular  form 
what  was  then  known,  in  a  little  volume  named  "  The 
Dawn  of  Life,"  which  has  long  been  out  of  print ;  and 
in  1893  the  matter  was  referred  to  in  a  chapter  of  his 
work  "  Salient  Points  in  the  Science  of  the  Earth." 
In  1895  he  was  invited  to  present  the  subject  to  a  large 
and  intelligent  audience  in  a  course  of  lectures  delivered 
in  the  Lowell  Institute,  Boston  ;  and  the  success  which 
attended  these  lectures  has  induced  him  to  reproduce 
them  in  the  present  work,  in  the  hope  that  inquiries 
into  the  Dawn  of  Life  may  prove  as  fascinating  to 
general  readers  as  to  those  who  prosecute  them  as  a 


PREFACE 


i^ 


^41 


matter  of  serious  work,  and  that  their  presentation  in 
this  form  may  stimulate  further  research  in  a  field 
which  is  destined  in  the  coming  years  to  add  new  and 
important  domains  to  the  knowledge  of  life  in  the  early 
history  of  the  earth. 

Hypotheses  respecting  the  introduction  and  develop- 
ment of  life  are  sufficiently  plentiful  ;  but  the  most 
scientific  method  of  dealing  with  such  questions  is  that 
of  searching  carefully  for  the  earliest  remains  of  living 
beings  which  have  been  preserved  to  us  in  the  rocky 
storehouses  of  the  earth. 

There  are  many  earnest  labourers  in  this  difficult 
field,  and  it  will  be  the  object  of  the  writer  in  the 
following  pages  to  do  justice  to  their  work  as  far  as 
known  to  him,  as  well  as  to  state  his  own  results. 

J.  W.  D. 


CONT  E  NTS 
I 

The  Chain  of  Life  Traced  Backward  in  Geological   ""' 
Time 

3 

II 

Life  in  the  Early  Cambrian 

•       •       .      17 

III 

1'he-Cami5rian  Life 

47 

IV 

FOUNDATIONS  OF  THE  CONT.N.CNTS,  AND  THEIR  GENERAL 
lESTIMONY   AS   TO    LlFF 

79 

V 

PROnABILITIKS   AS  TOLaUKENTIAN    Life,  AND   CONDITIONS 
OF  ITS    I'RKSERVATION 

107 

VI 

The  History  of  a  Discovery 

125 

vn 

The  Dawn  of  Life 

'47 

3d 


Kll 


CONTENTS 


viri 


Contemporaries  of  Eozoon 


PAGE 


193 


IX 


Difficulties  and  Objections 


221 


The  Origin  of  Life 


245 


XI 


Some  General  Conclusions 


281 


APPENDIX 

A.  Geological  Relations  of  Eozoon,  etc.  . 

B.  Organic  Remains  and  Hydrous  Silicaiis 

C.  Affinities  of  Eozoon,  etc. 

D.  Cryptozoon    .... 

E.  Receptaculites  and  Arch^ocyathus 

F.  Pre- Geological  Evolution 

•        •       • 

G.  Controversies  respecting  Eozoon  . 
H.    Notes  to  Appendix,  Decemj5er,  1896 


295 
298 

303 
310 

315 
320 

324 
329 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIG. 

PAGR 

Ckyptozoon  Boreale     ....       Fronihpiecc 

^^•'^•' xvi 

1.  Olenei.lus ^3 

2.  TrIARTHRUS 

3.  Hymenocaris 27 

4.  Ctenichnites ^^ 

5,6.  Arch^ocyathus      ....  ^c 

7, 8.  Cryptozoon      ...  .7  .,, 

9.    Fossils  in  Lower  Camisrian  Boui.der      .        .41 

10.  Section  Hanford  Brook r, 

11.  Worm  Tracks.       .       .  r- 

53 

12.  Pre-Camurian  Fossils  .  -, 

•        •        .        •        .14 

13.  Arenicolites  and  Asfidella       ....  54 

14.  Cryptozoon -^ 

15.  Worm  Burrows 5^ 

16.  Casts  of  Foraminifera ^g 

17-  Tudor  Eozoon 5„ 

18.  Laurentian  America S; 

19.  Map  of  Grenville  Limestones  .       .       .        .      ScS 
19A.    Attitude  of  Limestone,  COte  St.  Pierre       .      91 

20,21.    Disturbed  Beds ,0^ 

22.    Section  of  Limestone x\2 

23.      SiLICIFICATION  OF   CORAL ,,3 

24.    Cast  of  Polvstomella  in  Glauconite     ,       .115 

xiii 


I  i 


XIV 

rto. 
24A. 

25. 
26,  27. 

28,  29. 

30,31. 
32. 
33, 34. 
35- 
36. 
Z7' 
3^. 
39-41. 
42. 
43- 
44- 
45. 
46. 

47. 
48,  49. 
50,51. 

52. 
53,  54. 

55- 

56. 

57. 

58. 

59. 
60. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Crinoid  and  Shell  in  Glauconite 

NaTUKE- PRINT  OF  EoZOON 

EozooN  FROM  Calumet 
Canals  of  Eozoon  . 
Canals  and  Tuhui.i 
General  Form  of  Eozoon  . 
Eozoon  with  Funnels  . 
Small  Specimen  and  Structure 
Decalcified  Eozoon 
Finest  TunuLi  filled  with  Dolomf 
•    Arrangement  of  Canals 
Finest  Tubuli 
Canals  after  Mobius 
Stromatocerium     . 
Stromatopora 
Ccenostroma    .       .       .       ,        ' 

Recent  Protozoa 

•  •       • 

Fragmental  Eozoon 

NUMMULITES   AND   CALCARINA 
ARCH.EOSPHERINyE 

AcERvuLiNE  Eozoon 

•  •       • 

Arch^ospherin/E 
Ditto,  Finland      . 
Eozoon  Bavaricum 
Arch^ozoon    . 
Restoration  of  Eozoon 
Eozoon  in  Different  States 
Nature-print  of  Large  Specimen 


E 


PACE 

•  116 

.   121 

•  130 

•  133 

•  135 

•  149 
152,  153 

•  ^55 

•  157 
.  158 
.  159 

160-2 

.  163 

.  172 

•  ^73 

'     174 
.  176 


K^;3 


.  186 
190, 200 

.  203 
205, 20S 
212 


21- 


To 


215 
230 

237 
face    2g6 


f 


THE   CHAIN  OF  LIFE   TRACED  BACKWARD 
IN  GEOLOGICAL   TIME 


GEOLOGICAL  CHRONOLOGY   OF   IME. 


Aflcr  Prof.  C.  A.    White. 


InVKU  IIIUiA  ll'.S. 


Vl'K  I  KIIKATBS. 


Plants. 


Groi.of;iCAL 

SVSTKMS 
OR 

Peuious. 


V     "O 


i  1 


o 

B 


ra    'iT. 


</> 


12 

3 


•T3 

C 


a  " 
«)    7    ti 


O 


N  -a 


u^^C     £     S    S-53     «    "•S.EjJJJiPfS.S 


u 

N 

o 


Modern 


Tertiary 


Cretaceous 


o 

N 

o  ■< 

w 


urassic 


Triassic 


/  Permian 

Carboniferous 
Devonian     ... 


o 

N 

o 

< 


Silurian 


Ordovician 


Cambrian 


\  Etch 


enunian 


o 

o 


Huronian 


,   5  Grenvilliau 


rt   Archse.'iu 


Note. — It  is  not  supposed  that  the  Geological  Periods  were  of  equal  lengths, 
as  leprcscnted  in  the  diagram. 


ERRATA. 

Where  Cryptozoon  prolificum  occurs  in  the  text,  read  Crybto- 
soon  proliferum. 


The  line  of  "PhaenoK^ims"  in  the  table  on  opposite  pa^e  should 
be  extended  down  to  the  Devonian  Period. 


i 


.# 


1 


I 

TNE  CHAIN  OF  LIFE    TRACED   BACKWARD   IN 
GEOLOGICAL    TIME 

T  N  infancy  wc  have  little  conception  of  the  per- 
spective of  time.     To  us  the  objects  around  us 
and  even  our  seniors  in  age  seem  to  have  always 
been,  and   to  have  had  no   origin  or  childhood.     It 
is  only  as  we  advance  in  knowledge  and  experience 
that   we   learn    to   recognise   distinctions   of  age   in 
beings  older  than  ourselves.     In  thinking  of  this,  it 
seems  at  first  sight  an  anomaly,  or  at  least  contrary 
to  analogy,  that  the  oldest  literature  and  philosophy 
deal   so   much  with   doctrines  as   to  the   origins   of 
things.     In  this  respect  primitive  men  do  not  seem 
to  have  resembled  children  ;   and  the  fact  that  our 
own   sacred    records    begin   with    answers    to    such 
questions,    and    that    these    appear    in    the    oldest 
literary  remains   of  so   many   ancient   nations,   and 
even  in  the  folk-lore  of  barbarous  tribes,  might  be 
used   as   an   additional   argument    in   favour  of   an 
early  Divine  revelation  on  such  subjects,  as  a  means 

3 


RELICS   OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


ii 


of  awakening  primitive  men  to  the   comprehension 
of  their  own  place  in  the  universe. 

However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  modern 
science  at  first  took  a  different  stand. 

The  constancy  of  the  motions  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  our  great  time-keepers,  and  of  the  changes 
on  the  earth  depending  upon  them,  and  the  resolu- 
tion of  apparent  perturbations  into  cycles  of  greater 
or  less  length,  impressed  astronomers  and  physicists 
with  the  permanence  of  the  arrangements  of  the 
heavens  and  their  eternal  circling  round  without  any 
change.  In  like  manner,  on  the  rise  of  geology,  the 
succession  of  changes  recorded  in  the  earth  seemed 
interminable,  and  Mutton  could  say  that  in  the 
geological  chronology  he  could  see  "  no  vestige  of  a 
beginning,  no  prospect  of  an  end." 

But  the  progress  of  investigation  has  changed  all 
this,  and  has  brought  physical  and  natural  science 
back  to  a  position  nearer  to  that  of  the  old  cosmo- 
gonies. Physical  astronomy  has  shown  that  the 
constant  emission  of  heat  and  light  from  the  sun 
and  other,  stars  must  have  had  a  beginning,  and  is 
hurrying  on  toward  an  end,  that  the  earth  and  its 
satellite  the  moon  are  receding  from  each  other, 
and    that   even    the    spinning    of   our   globe    on    its 


y 


I 


THE   CHAIN    OF   LH'E    TRACED   I5ACKWARU 


5 


axis  is  diminishing  in  rapidity.  In  summing  up 
these  and  other  changes,  Lord  Kelvin  says :  "  To 
hold  the  doctrine  of  the  eternity  of  the  universe 
would  be  to  maintain  a  stupendous  miracle,  and  one 
contrary  to  the  fundamental  laws  of  matter  and 
force." 

So,  on  our  earth  itself,  we  can  now  assign  to  their 
relative  ages  those  great  mountain  chains  which 
have  been  emblems  of  eternity.  We  can  transfer 
ourselves  in  imagination  back  to  a  time  when  man 
and  his  companion  animals  of  to-day  did  not  exist, 
when  our  continents  and  seas  had  not  assumed  their 
present  forms,  and  even  when  the  earth  was  an 
incandescent  mass  with  all  its  volatile  materials 
suspended  in  its  atmosphere.  It  is  true  that  in 
all  the  changes  which  our  earth  has  undergone  the 
same  properties  of  matter  and  the  same  natural  laws 
have  prevailed  ;  but  the  interactions  of  these  pro- 
perties and  laws  have  been  tending  to  continuous 
changes  in  definite  directions,  and  not  infrequently 
to  accumulations  of  tension  leading  to  paroxysmal 
vicissitudes. 

If  all  this  is  true  of  the  earth  itself,  it  is  especially 
applicable  to  its  living  inhabitants.  Successive 
dynasties    of    animals    and     plants    have    occupied 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


w 


the  earth  in  the  course  of  geological  time ;  and 
as  we  go  back  in  the  record  of  the  rocks,  first  man 
himself  and,  in  succession,  all  the  higher  animals 
disappear,  until  at  length  in  the  oldest  fossiliferous 
beds  only  a  portion  of  the  more  humble  inhabitants 
of  the  sea  can  be  found.  In  the  time  of  the  forma- 
tion of  the  oldest  of  these  rocks,  or  perhaps  some- 
what earlier,  must  have  been  the  first  beginning  of 
life  on  our  planet. 

Just  as  we  can  trace  every  individual  animal  to 
a  microscopic  germ  in  which  all  its  parts  were 
potentially  present,  so  we  can  trace  species,  genera, 
and  larger  groups  of  animals  to  their  commencement 
at  different  points  of  the  earth's  history,  and  can 
endeavour  to  follow  the  lines  of  creation  or  descent 
back  to  the  first  beings  in  which  vital  powers  mani- 
fested themselves.  All  such  beginnings  must  end  in 
mystery,  for  as  yet  we  do  not  know  how  either  a 
germ  or  a  perfect  animal  could  originate  from  in- 
-animate  matter ;  but  we  may  hope  at  least  to  make 
some  approximation  to  the  date  of  the  origin  of  life 
and  to  a  knowledge  of  the  conditions  under  which 
it  began  to  exist,  confining  ourselves  for  the  present 
principally  to  the  Animal  Kingdom. 

As  preliminary  to  the  consideration  of  this  subject, 


i 


THE  CHAIN  OF  LH  E  TRACED  UACKWARD    7 


we   may   shortly   notice   the   grades    of    animals   at 
present  existing,  and  then    the   evidence   which   we 
have    of    their    successive    appearance    in    different 
periods  of  geological   time,   in    order   that   we   may 
eliminate  all  those  of  more  recent  origin,  in  so  far 
as  the  knowledge  at   present    available  will    permit, 
and  restrict  our  consideration   to  forms  which  seem 
to  have  been  the  earliest.      In   attempting  this,  we 
may  use  for  reference  the  table  of  geological  periods 
and  animal   types  presented   in   the  diagram   facin^ 
this   chapter,   which   is   based   on   one   prepared   by 
Prof.    Charles    A.    White,    of    the     United     States 
Geological   Survey,   with    modifications   to   adapt   it 
to  our  present  purpose.     In  this  table   the   leadin^r 
groups  of  animals  are  represented  by  lines   stretch- 
ing downward  in  the  geological  column  of  formations 
as  far  as  they  have  yet  been  traced.     Such  a  table, 
it  must  be  observed,  is  always  liable  to  the  possibility 
of  one  or  more  of  its  lines  being  extended  farther 
downward  by  new  discoveries. 

The  broadest  general  division  of  the  Animal  King- 
dom  is   into  back-boned  animals  (Vertebrates)  and 
those  which  have  no  back-bone  or  equivalent  struc- 
ture  (Invertebrates).!     The   former  includes,  besides 
*   The  twofold  primary  division  now  sometimes  usedTim^ 


I 


8 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


man  himself,  the  familiar  groups  of  Beasts,  Birds, 
Reptiles,  and  Fishes.  The  latter  consists  of  the 
great  swarms  of  creatures  included  under  the  terms 
Insects,  Crustaceans,  Worms,  Cuttle-fishes,  Snails, 
Bivalve  Mollusks,  Star-fishes,  Sea-urchins,  Coral 
Animals,  Sea  -  jellies.  Sponges,  and  Animalcules. 
This  mixed  multitude  of  animals,  mostly  of  low 
grade  and  aquatic,  includes  a  vast  variety  of  forms, 
which,  though  comparatively  little  known  to  ordinary 
observers,  are  vastly  numerous,  of  great  interest  to 
naturalists,  and,  as  we  shall  find,  greatly  older  in 
gecjlogical  date  than  the  higher  animals. 

It  will  be  seen  by  a  glance  at  the  diagram  that 
the  higher  vertebrates  are  of  most  recent  origin, 
man  himself  coming  in  as  one  of  the  newest  of  all. 
Only  the  lower  reptiles  or  batrachians  and  the 
fishes  extend  very  far  back  in  geological  time. 
None  of  the  other  vertebrate  groups  reach,  so  far 
as  yet  known,  farther  back  than  the  middle  of  the 
geological  scale — probably  in  point  of  time  very 
much  less  than  this.  Those  of  the  invertebrates 
that  breathe  air  reach  no  farther  back  than  the 
fishes,  possibly  not  so  far.     On  the  other  hand,  all 


Metazoa  and  Protozoa^  seems  more  arbitrary  and  unequal,  and 
therefore  of  less  practical  value. 


THE  CHAIN  OF  LH"  E  TRACED  BACKWARD 


'.'si 


the  leading  groups  of  marine  invertebrates  run  with- 
out interruption  back  to  the  Lower  Cambrian,  and 
some  of  them  still  farther.  Thus  it  would  appear 
that  for  long  ages  before  the  introduction  of  land  or 
air-breathing  animals  of  any  kind,  the  sea  swarmed 
with  animal  life,  which  was  almost  as  varied  as  that 
which  now  inhabits  it.  The  reasons  of  this  would 
seem  to  be  that  the  better  support  given  by  the 
water  makes  le.>s  demands  upon  organs  for  me- 
chanical strength,  that  the  water  preserves  a  more 
uniform  temperature  than  the  air,  and  that  arrange- 
ments for  respiration  in  water  are  less  elaborate 
than  those  necessary  in  air.  Hence  the  conditions 
of  life  are,  so  to  speak,  easier  in  water  than  in  air, 
more  especially  for  creatures  of  simple  structure  and 
low  vital  energy.  Besides  this,  the  waters  occupy 
two-thirds  of  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  in  earlier 
periods  piobably  covered  a  still  greater  area. 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  understand  that  the 
Animal  Kingdom  had  not  one  but  many  beginnings, 
its  leading  types  arriving  in  succession  throughout 
geological  time.  Thus  the  special  beginning  of  any 
one  line  of  life,  or  those  of  different  lines,  mierht 
form  special  subjects  of  inquiry  ;  but  our  present 
object  is   to  inquire   as   to  the   first   or   earliest   in- 


10 


RKLICS  Ob'   I'KIMKVAL   LIFE 


troduction  of  life  in  our  planet,  and  in  what  form 
or  forms  it  api3carcd.  Wc  may,  therefore,  neglect 
all  the  vertebrate  animals  and  the  air-breathing 
invertebrates,  and  may  restrict  our  inquiries  to 
marine   invertebrates. 

In  relation  to  these,  six  of  the  larger  divisions 
or  provinces  of  the  Animal  Kingdom  may  suffice 
to  include  all  the  lower  inhabitants  of  the  ocean, 
whether  now  or  in  some  of  the  oldest  fossil iferous 
rocks.  * 

Looking  more  in  detail  at  our  diagram,  we 
observe  that  the  higher  vertebrates  nearest  to  man 
in  structure  extend  back  but  a  little  way,  or,  with 
a  few  minor  exceptions,  only  as  far  as  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Kainozoic  or  Tertiary  i'criod,  in  the  later 
part  of  which  we  still  exist.  Other  air-breathing 
vertebrates,  the  birds  and  the  true  rei^tiles,  extend 
considerably  farther,  to  the  beginning  of  the  previous 
or  Mesozoic  Period.      The  amphibians,  or  frog-like 


'  Some  modern  zoologists,  having  perhaps,  like  some  of  the 
old  Greeks,  lost  the  idea  of  the  unity  of  nature,  or  at  least  that 
of  one  presiding  divinity,  j)refer  for  the  larger  divisions  of 
animals  the  term  phylum  or  p/iylon,  implying  merely  a  stock, 
race  or  kind,  without  reference  to  a  definite  place  in  an  ordered 
kosmos. 


THK  CHAIN   OF   LIFE   TRACED   iUCKWAIU)       II 


reptiles,    reach    somewhat    farther,    and    the    fishes 
and  the   air-breathing  arthropods    farther   still.     On 
the   other   hand,   our    six   great    groups    of    marine 
invertebrates   run    back   for   a   vast   length  of  time, 
without   any  companions,  to   the   lowest    Paheozoic, 
and   this  applies  to   their  higher  types,   the   cuttles 
and  their  allies,  and  the  crustaceans,  as  well  as  to 
the  lower  tribes.     Turning  now  again  to  our  table, 
we   find   that   these   creatures   extend    in   unbroken 
lines  back  to  the  Lower  Cambrian,  the  oldest  beds 
in  which   we   find   any  considerable   number   of  or- 
ganic remains,  and  leave  all  the  other  members  of 
the  Animal  Kingdom  far  behind. 

If  now  we  endeavour  to  arrange  the  leadin*^ 
groups  of  these  persistent  invertebrates  under  a  few 
general  names,  we  may  use  the  following,  begin- 
ning with  those  highest  in  rank  : — 

(1)  Insects  and  Crustaceans  (Arthropoda). 

(2)  Cnttles,     univalve     and     bivalve    Shcll-lishcs 
(MOLLUSCA). 

(3)  Worms  (Annelida). 

(4)  Sea  '  urchins  and   Sea  -  stats    (Eciiinoder- 
mata). 

(5)  Coral    Animals,     Sea- anemones,    and     6"^- 

jellics  (CCELEN TERATA). 


12  RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 

(6)    Sponges,    Foraminifcra    and    Animalcules    of  | 

simple  organization  (Protozoa). 

There  are,  it  is  true,  some   animals  allied  to  the  A 

mollusks  and  worms,  which  might  be  entitled  to 
form  separate  groups,  though  of  minor  importance 
The  position  of  the  sponges  is  doubtful,  and  the 
great  mass  of  Protozoa  may  admit  of  subdivision ; 
but  for  our  present  purpose  these  six  great  groups 
or  provinces  of  the  Animal  Kingdom  may  be  held 
to  include  all  the  humbler  forms  of  aquatic  life, 
and  they  keep  company  with  each  other  as  far  as 
the  Early  Cambrian.  If,  in  accordance  with  the  pre- 
vious statements,  we  choose  to  divide  the  earth's 
history  by  the  development  of  animal  life  rather 
than  by  rock  formations,  and  to  regard  each  period 
as  presided  over  by  dominant  animal  forms,  we 
shall  thus  have  an  age  of  man,  an  age  of  mammals, 
an  age  of  reptiles  and  birds,  an  age  of  amphibians 
and  fishes,  and  an  age  of  crustaceans  and  mollusks. 

It  is  only  within  recent  years  that  the  researches 
more  especially  of  Barrande,  Hicks,  Lapworth, 
Linarrson,  Brogger,  and  others  in*  Europe,  and 
of  Matthew,  Ford  and  Walcott  in  America,  have 
enlarged  the  known  animals  of  the  Lower  Cam- 
brian  to    nearly   200  species,   and    below    this    we 


THE   CHAIN   OF   LHE   TRACED  BACKWARD       1 3 


know  as  yet  very  little   of  animal   life.     We   may 
therefore  take  the   Lower  Cambrian,   or  "Olenellus 
Zone"  as  it  has  been  called  from  one  of  its  more 
important    crustaceans/    as   our    starting  -  point    for 
plunging  into  the  depths    below.     In   doing  so,  we 
may  remark  on  the  orderly  and  symmetrical  nature 
of  the   chain  of  life,  and  on  the   strange   fact  that 
for  so  long   ages    animal    life   seems   to   have   been 
confined  to  the  waters,  and  to  have  undergone  little 
development  toward   its  higher  forms.     It  is  like  a 
tree    with    a    tall    branchless    stem   bearing   all   its 
leaves   and   verdure    at   the    top,   or   like   some  ob- 
scure   tribe    of    men    long   living    in   isolation   and 
unknown    to    fame,   and   then,   under   some    hidden 
impulse  or  opportunity,  becoming  a  great  conquer- 
ing and  dominant  nation.      Or   to  compare  it   with 
higher  things,  it  is   like   the   Christian   religion,  for 
ages    confined    to   a    small   and    comparatively   un- 
important  people,   and    developing   slowly  its    faith 
and  hopes,  and  then  suddenly,  under   the   personal 
influence  of  Christ  and  His  apostles,  spreading  itself 
over    the   world,   and  in  a  few   centuries  becoming 
the  ruling   power   in   its   greatest   empire,  surviving 


*  See  figure,  p.  20. 


m 


14 


RELICS   OK    PRIMEVAL    LIKE 


the  fall  of  this  and  permeating  all  the  great  nations 
that  sprang  from  its  ruins.  God's  plans  in  nature, 
in  history,  and  in  grace  seem  to  us  very  slow  in 
their  growth  and  maturity,  but  they  are  very  sure. 


I 


I 


LIFE  IN  THE  EARLY  CAMBRIAN 


15 


i   I 


' 


II 


LIFE  IN   Tini   EARLY  CAMBRIAISI 


T  N  the  old   Chcildcan    fable  of  the  descent  of  Ish- 
tar  into    Hades,   to   recover   her   lost    Tammuz, 
at   each    successive   ^^ite   of  the    lower    rej^ions    she 
is  stripped  of  some  of  her  ornaments  and  garments, 
till   at   length   she   has   to   appear   naked    and  una- 
dorned in   the   presence   of  the   lord    of  the    Nether 
World.      So    in    our    descent    from    the   surface   on 
which  men  live,  through  the  successive  rocky  layers 
of  the  earth's  crust,  we  leave  behind,  one  by  one, 
all    the    higher   forms   of    life   with    which    we   are 
familiar  ;  but  there  still  remain  to  us  our  six  groups 
of    aquatic    invertebrates,   in    the    guise,    it    is    true, 
of  species    and    genera    now    unknown    in    a    living 
state,  yet  well  represented  as  far  down  as  the  lower 
part    of  the    Cambrian.      Let   us    now  su}jposc  that 
we  take  our  stand   on  the  shores   of  the   Cambrian 
sea,  or  cast  our  dredge  into  its  waters  in  search  of 

17 


'II 


'■  1 

:ii 

:i  i 


1 8  RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 

these  old  animals  ;  though  we  can  only  actually  do 

so  by  painfully  hammering  and  chiselling  them  out 

of  their  rocky  tombs,  and  this  often   in   fragments 

which   must   be   put   together    before    we   can    fully 

realize  the  forms   and  structures  of  the  animals  to 

which  they  belonged. 

We   may    pause    here,   however,  to   remark    that 

neither  the  geographical  nor  climatal  conditions  of 

the  earth  at  this  early  time  were  similar  to  these 

with    which    we    are    now    familiar.      The    marine 

animals   of  the    Cambrian   have    left    their   remains  f 

f 
in   beds   of   sediment,   which   now    constitute   rocks 

forming  parts  of  our  continents  remote  from  the 
sea,  and  much  elevated  above  its  level,  showing 
that  large  areas,  then  under  the  ocean,  are  now 
dry  land  ;  while  there  is  no  good  evidence  that  the 
sea  and  land  have  changed  places.  The  facts  rather 
indicate  that  the  continents  have  extended  their 
area  at  the  expense  of  the  ocean,  which  has,  how- 
ever, probably  increased  in  depth.  In  evidence  of 
these  statements,  I  need  only  mention  that  some  of 
the  oldest  rocks  in  the  Scottish  and  Welsh  hills,  in 
Scandinavia,  in  Russia  and  in  Bohemia,  are  rich  in 
Cambrian  marine  fossils.  In  America,  in  like  man- 
ner, such    rocks  are    found    on   the  flanks  of   the 


1 


m 


Fig.   I. — Oleuellus  Thompsont,  Hall. 

A  characteristic  Trilobitc  of  the  Lower  Canilirian  in  North  America. 
After  VValcott  and  specimen  in  Peter  Redpatli  Museum. 

80 


LIFE   IN    THE   EARLY   CAM15RIAN 


21 


Apalachians,  in  New  Brunswick,  and  in  Newfound- 
land,  in    the    table-land    of    Colorado    and    in    the 
Rocky  Mountains.      In  point  of  fact,  a  map  of  the 
Northern    Hemisphere   at   this   period    would    show 
only    a    limited    circumpolar    continent    with   some 
outlying   islands   to   the   south  of   it,   and    shallows 
stretching    across    the    northern    part    of  the    areas 
of  the   present  Atlantic   and    Pacific    Oceans.     The 
great    ocean,   however,    thus    extending    over    most 
of  the   temperate  and  tropical  parts  of  the    North- 
ern   Hemisphere,    was    probably   also    more    muddy 
and  shallow  than   that  of  modern  times.      The  sur- 
face  temperature  of  this  vast  ocean  was   also,  it   is 
probable,  more  uniform  than  that  of  the  modern  sea, 
while  even  its  profounder  depths  or  abysses  would 
have    more   earth-heat    than    at    present.      Thus   we 
may,    without    hesitation,    affirm    that   in    this   early 
age  the  conditions  for  the  introduction  of  swarmin<r 
marine   life   of  low   grade,   and    its    extension   over 
the  whole  earth,  were  at  a  maximum. 

Let  us  inquire,  then,  what  these  old  Cambrian 
seas  actually  produced,  more  especially  in  the  early 
portions  of  that  ancient  and  probably  protracted 
time. 

The    most    highly   organized   type    of   which   we 


22 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


have  any  certain  evidence  is  that  of  the  Crustacea, 
the  group  to  which  our  modern  lobsters  and  crabs 
belong,  and  its  most  prominent  representatives  are 
the  trilobites  (Figs,  i,  2),  so  called  from  the  three 
lobes  into  which  the  body  is  divided.  These  creatures 
are  indeed  remarkable  for  the  twofold  property  of 
bilateral  symmetry,  and  fore  and  aft  jointed  structure, 
both  based  on  the  number  three.  From  front  to 
rear  we  have  a  large  head,  usually  with  well-devel- 
oped eyes  and  oral  organs,  a  middle  or  thoracic 
part  composed  of  a  series  of  movable  segments,  and 
a  tail-piece  sometimes  small,  sometimes  nearly  as 
large  as  the  head.  Transversely,  the  body  is  divided 
into  a  central  and  two  lateral  lobes,  which  can  be 
seen  in  the  head,  the  thorax,  and  usually  in  the 
tail  as  well.  The  organization  of  these  animals 
must  have  been  as  complex  as  that  of  most  existing 
Crustaceans.  Their  nerve  system  must  have  been 
well  developed ;  a  vast  num.ber  of  muscles  were 
required  to  move  the  different  parts  of  the  trunk, 
and  the  numerous  and  complex  limbs  which  have 
been  observed  in  some  of  the  species,  and  no  doubt 
were  possessed  by  all.  Their  digestive  and  circu- 
latory organs  must  have  been  in  proportion  to  the 
complexity  of  their   locomotive   organs.      Figure   2, 


Fig.   2.  —  Triarthrns  Berki,  Green. 
A  Trilobite  of  primitive  type,  showing  its  limbs  and  antennas.      (After  Beecher.) 


23 


■i'l 

f: 

LIFE   IN   THE   EARLY  CAMBRIAN 


25 


borrowed  from  l^eecher,^  shows  the  h'mbs  of  a 
species,  not  of  the  Lower  Cambrian,  but  of  a  some- 
what later  formation.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  how- 
ever, that  those  of  earHer  species  were  equally  per- 
fect, more  especially  as  Triarthrus  is  an  animal  of  an 
old  type  approaching  to  extinction  in  the  age  suc- 
ceeding the  Cambrian,  and  its  representatives  in  the 
earlier  and  palmy  days  of  the  family  could  not 
have  been  inferior  in  organization.  These  creatures 
swarmed  in  every  sea  in  the  Cambrian  period, 
and  were  represented  by  a  great  number  of  spe- 
cies, some  of  them  of  large  size,  others  very  small ; 
some  many  -  jointed,  others  few  -  jointed,  and  with 
a  great  variety  of  tubercles,  spines,  and  other  orna- 
mental and  protective  parts.  If  we  ask  for  their 
affinities  and  place  in  the  great  group  of  Crustacea, 
the  answer  must  be  that,  while  in  some  points  allied 
to  the  higher  forms,  they  approach  most  nearly  to 
those  which  occupy  a  medium  position  in  the  class, 
and  are,  in  fact,  a  composite  type,  presenting  points 
of  structure  now  distributed  among  different  groups. 
If  we  ask  for  affinities  with  lower  groups,  we  have 
to  reply  that  their  nearest  allies  in  this  direction  are 


*  American  Journal  of  Science,  1896. 


I 


V 


,,,,     <l 


26  RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 

the  bristle  -  footed  marine  worms  ;  but  there  is  a 
vast  gap,  both  in  the  Cambrian  and  Modern  seas, 
between  any  of  these  worms  and  the  Crustacea, 
which,  either  as  embryos  or  as  adults,  have  any  re- 
semblance to  them. 

The  Trilobites,  after  appearing  in  a  great  variety 
of  generic  and  specific  forms,  and  playing  a  most 
important  part  in  their  time,  were  not  destined  to 
continue  beyond  the  Carboniferous  period,  and  be- 
fore that  time  they  were  beginning  to  give  place  to 
the  Limuli,  King-crabs,  or  Horseshoe-crabs,  a  few 
species  of  which  continue  on  our  coasts  until  the 
present  time.  In  this  limited  duration  the  Trilobites 
present  a  strange  contrast  to  certain  shrimp  -  like 
Crustaceans,  their  contemporaries  (the  Phyllopods), 
which  very  closely  resemble  some  still  extant,  and 
the  same  remark  applies  to  swarms  of  little  bivalve 
Crustaceans  (Ostracods),  which  are  still  represented 
by  hosts  of  modern  species  both  in  the  sea  and  in 
the  fresh  waters.  There  is,  however,  a  remarkable 
group  of  shrimp-like  Crustaceans,  represented  in  the 
modern  world  by  only  a  few  small  species,  which  in 
the  Cambrian  age  attained  greater  size,  and  consti^ 
tute  a  very  generalized  type  combining  characters 
now  found  in  lower  and  higher  groups  of  Crustacea. 


LIFE   IN    iHE  EARLY  CAMBRIAN 


2; 


Hymenocaris   vermicauda  of   Salter    (Fig.  3)  may 
serve  to  illustrate  one  of  these  primitive  forms. 

In  point  of  fact,  as  Dr.  Henry  Woodward  has 
shown  in  an  able  presidential  address  delivered  to 
the  Geological  Society  in  1895,  at  the  base  of  the 
Lower  Cambrian  we  still  have  several  distinct  groups 
of  Crustacea ;  and  if  with  some  we  were  to  hold  them 


Fig.  Z.— Hymenocaris  vermicauda,  Salter. 
A  Lower  Cambrian  Shrimp  of  generalized  type.     (After  Salter.) 

as  traceable  to  one  original  form  or  to  a  worm-like 
ancestor,  we  must  seek  for  this  far  back  in  those 
pre-Cambrian  rocks  in  which  we  find  no  Crustaceans 
whatever.  There  is,  it  is  true,  no  good  reason  to 
demand  this  ;  for  whatever  the  cause,  secondary  or 
final,  which  produced  any  form  of  Crustacean  in  the 
Lower  Cambrian,  it  might  just  as  well  have  pro- 
duced  several    distinct    forms.     Evolutionists    seem 


II 


28 


RELICS  OV   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


to  be  somewhat  unreasonable  in  demands  of  this 
kind,  for  any  cause  capable  of  originating  a  new 
form  of  living  being,  might  have  been  operative  at 
the  same  time  in  different  localities  and  under  some- 
what diverse  conditions,  and  may  also  have  acted 
at  different  times.  All  imaginary  lines  of  descent 
of  animals  are  more  or  less  subject  to  this  con- 
tingency ;  and  this  may  partly  account  for  the 
great  diversity  in  the  lines  of  affiliation  presented 
to  us  by  evolutionists,  which  may  in  part  have  a 
basis  in  fact  in  so  far  as  distinct  varietal  and 
racial  forms  are  concerned,  but  may  just  as  likely 
be  entirely  fallacious  in  the  case  of  true  species. 
In  any  case,  in  the  lowest  rocks  into  which  we  can 
trace  Crustacea,  we  have  already  probably  five  of 
the  orders  into  which  their  successors  in  the  modern 
seas  are  divided  by  zoologists  ;  and  this  is  certainly 
a  singular  and  suggestive  fact,  the  significance  of 
which  we  shall  be  better  prepared  to  understand 
at  a  later  stage  of  our  investigation. 

Allied  in  some  respects  to  the  Crustacea,  though 
much  lower  in  grade,  are  the  marine  Worms — a 
great  and  varied  host — usually  inhabiting  the  shal- 
lower parts  of  the  ocean ;  though  the  330  species 
collected  by  the    Challenger  expedition  show   that 


M 


LIFE   IN   THE   EARLY  CAMHKIAN 


29 


they  also  abound  in  those  j^^rcater  dc[)ths  to  which 
voyagers  have  only  recently  had  access.  Sea-worms 
seem  thus  to  be  able  to  live  in  all  depths,  as  well 
as  in  all  climates  ;  and  in  accordance  with  this 
they  abound  in  the  oldest  rocks,  which  are  often 
riddled  with  the  holes  caused  by  their  burrowing,  or 
abundantly  marked  on  the  surfaces  of  the  beds  with 
their  trails. 

The  great  province  of  the  Mollusca,  in  which, 
for  our  present  purpose,  we  may  include  some 
aberrant  and  rudimentary  Molluscoids,  is  now  best 
known  to  us  by  its  medium  types,  the  univalve  and 
bivalve  Shell-fishes ;  the  higher  group  of  the  Cuttle- 
fishes and  Nautili,  though  not  uncommon,  being 
much  less  numerous,  and  one  at  least  of  the  lower 
groups,  the  Lamp-shells  or  Brachiopods,  being  repre- 
sented in  the  modern  world  by  but  few  forms.  The 
extension  of  the  Mollusks  backwards  into  the  Cam- 
brian is  remarkable  as  being  on  the  whole  meagre 
in  comparison  with  that  of  the  Crustaceans,  and  as 
presenting  only  in  small  numbers  the  types  most 
common  in  later  times.  One  or  two  shells,  and 
perhaps  some  tracks,  represent  the  highest  group : 
some  forms  resembling  the  floating  species  of  Sea- 
snails,  and   a  very  few   ordinary  bivalves   represent 


30 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


;i 


tlie  types  best  known  in  the  modern  seas  ;  while 
the  Brachiopods,  and  probably  some  still  simpler 
forms,  are  in  great  comparative  excess.  The  indi- 
vidual specimens  are  also  of  small  size,  as  if  these 
creatures  were  but  insinuating  themselves  on  the 
arena  of  life  in  insignificant  and  humble  forms.  So 
far  as  yet  known,  the  lowest  groups  supposed  to 
be  allied  to  the  Mollusks,  the  Ascidians  or  Sea- 
squirts,  and  the  Sea-mosses  (Polyzoa),  do  not  ap- 
pear ;  but  they  may  have  been  represented  by 
species  which  possessed  no  hard  parts  capable  of 
preservation. 

This  leads  us  to  the  consideration  that  while  all 
the  Crustacea  necessarily  possess  some  kind  of  crust 
or  external  skeleton,  the  Mollusks  are  very  differ- 
ent in  this  respect.  While  some  of  them  have 
ponderous  shells,  others  even  of  the  highest  forms 
are  quite  destitute  of  such  protective  parts.  This 
again  leads  to  a  curious  question  respecting  the 
armature  of  the  Trilobites.  Some  of  these,  even 
of  the  larger  species,  have  strong  and  formid- 
able spines,  like  those  of  the  King-crabs  and 
other  modern  Crustaceans.  Now  in  the  modern 
species  we  know  these  organs  to  be  intended  to 
defend  their  possessors  against  the  attacks  of  fishes 


, 


Fic;.  4.  —  Ctenichuites  ingens,   Matthew. 

A  slab  with  markings  of  aquatic  animBls.      From  specimen  in  Peter  Redpaili 

Museum. 
3» 


LIFE   IN   THE   EARLY  CAMBRIAN 


33 


more  swift  and  powerful  than  themselves.  But 
what  enemies  of  this  kind  had  the  Trilobites  to 
dread  ?  Yet  species  a  foot  or  more  in  length  pre- 
sented great  bayonet  -  like  spines.  All  that  we 
know  on  this  subject  is  that  on  the  surfaces  of 
the  Lower  Cambrian  rocks  there  are  in  some 
places  complicated  and  mysterious  tracks  or 
scratches,  which  seem  to  have  been  produced  when 
the  rock  was  in  the  state  of  soft  mud,  by  large 
and  swiftly  swimming  animals  possessing  some  sort 
of  arms  or  similar  appendages  (Fig.  4).  Matthew 
has  ingeniously  suggested  that  they  may  have  been 
large  Mollusks  allied  to  the  modern  gigantic  Squids 
which  still  abound  in  the  ocean,  that  they  may 
have  been  sufficiently  powerful  to  prey  on  the 
Trilobites,  and,  being  swift  swimmers,  would  have 
found  them  a  helpless  prey  but  for  their  defensive 
spines.  Yet  such  large  Mollusks  might  have 
perished  without  leaving  any  remains  recognisable 
in  the  rocks,  except  what  may  be  termed  their  hand- 
writing on  clay.  A  few  small  examples  of  the  shell- 
bearing  species  of  these  highest  Mollusks,  however, 
appear  in  the  Cambrian,  and  in  the  succeeding  ages 
they  become  very  abundant  and  attain  to  large 
dimensions,  again   dwindling  toward  modern  times. 

3 


34 


RELICS   OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


i 


It  would  thus  seem  that  for  some  unknown  reason 
the  highest  and  lowest  Mollusks  may  have  been  lo- 
cally plentiful,  but  the  intermediate  types  were  rare. 

The  much  lower  group  of  Echinoderms,  or  Sea- 
urchins  and  Sea-stars,  curiously  enough  puts  in  but 
a  small  appearance  in  the  Early  Cambrian,  being 
represented,  as  far  as  yet  known,  by  only  one 
embryonic  group,  the  Cystideans.  A  little  later, 
however,  Feather-stars  became  greatly  abundant, 
and  a  little  later  still  the  true  Star-fishes  and 
Urchins.  The  aberrant  group  of  the  Sea-slugs  seems, 
so  far  as  known,  to  be  of  more  modern  origin  ;  but 
most  of  these  animals  are  soft-bodied,  and  little 
likely  to  have  been  preserved. 

The  great  group  of  the  coral  animals,  so  marked 
a  feature  of  later  ages,  is  scarcely  known  in  the 
oldest  Cambrian,  except  by  some  highly  generalized 
forms'  (Fig.  5).  There  are,  however,  small  Zoophytes 
referable  to  the  lower  type  of  Hydroids,  and  mark- 
ings  which   are   supposed   to  be   casts   of  stranded 

^  Dr.  G.  J.  Hinde  has  carefully  studied  these  fornis,  and  also 
similar  species  occurring  in  Lower  Cambrian  bed?  in  different 
parts  of  North  America,  Spain,  Sardinia,  and  elsewhere.  See 
note  in  the  Appendix,  and  Journal  Geol.  Society  of  London., 
vol.  xlv.  p.  125. 


i 


LIKE   IN    THE   EARLY   CAMIJKIAN 


35 


Fig.   $.  —  Ari/i,eocyathus  profundus,  Billings. 

Possibly  a  Coral  of  generalized  type  from  the  Lower  Cambrian  of  L'Anse  k  Loup, 
Labrador.     A  small  specimen. 


M 


j-„^Q,) 


A 


>  0     'O; 


Fig.  6. — Structures  of  A.  profundus  {magnified). 

From  specimens  in  Peter  Redpath  Museum. 
(«)  Lower  acervuliiie  portion,      {b)  Upper  part,  with  three  of  the  radiating  laminae 
and  section  of  pores,    (c)  Portion  of  lanurui,  with  pores,  the  calcareous  skeleton  un- 
shaded. 


n 


I 


I 
i  I 


36 


RELICS   OF    rklMKVAL   LIKE 


Jelly-fishes.  If,  with  some  naturalists,  we  regard  the 
Sponges  as  very  humble  members  of  the  coral 
group  (Coelenterata),  then  we  have  a  right  to  acid 
ihem  to  its  representatives  in  the  lowest  Cambrian  ; 
but  perhaps  they  had  better  be  ranked  with  the 
next  and  lowest  group  of  all — the  Protozoa. 

These  are  the  humblest  of  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  sea,  presenting  very  simple,  jelly-like  bodies 
with  few  organs,  but  sometimes  producing  complex 
and  beautiful  calcareous  and  siliceous  coverings  or 
tests.  Animals  of  this  type  have  been  found  in  the 
Lower  Cambrian,  though  not  in  such  vast  multitudes 
as  in  some  later  formations.  There  are  also  in  the 
Cambrian  some  large,  laminated,  calcareous  bodies 
(Cryptozoon  of  Hall),  to  be  noticed  more  fully  below, 
and  which  have  recently  been  traced  in  still  lower 
deposits  even  below  the  lowest  Cambrian  (Figs.  7,  8). 
These  have  some  resemblance  to  the  layer-corals  or 
stromatoporae  of  the  Silurian  and  Ordovician,  which 
are  by  many  regarded  as  the  skeletons  of  coral 
animals  of  a  low  type ;  but  the  microscopic  struc- 
ture of  Cryptozoon  rather  allies  it  with  some  of 
the  larger  forms  of  Protozoa  found  higher  up  in 
the  series  of  formations.  We  shall  have  to  discuss 
this  later  in  connection  with  still  older  fossils. 


4 


m 
tuss 


Fig.  7. — Cryptozoon  proHjicum,  Hall. 
Portion  of  slab  reduced  in  size.    (After  Hall.)    See  also  Fig.  61,  p.  310. 


87 


« 


Si! 


'  i! 


I 


i^il 


Fig.  7'' — Por/iono/ i/iinsedion  of  C>y/)/ozoon  pro/i/c-rum  {magml'icd  x  50). 

(«)  Corneous  layers.    («^)  One  of  these  dividing.    (i5)  Intermediate  stroma  with 
granules  of  calcite,  dolomite  and  quartz,  traversed  by  canals. 

From  a  Micro-photograph  by  PROF,  PenhaLLOW. 


{'I'o/ucc p.  39. 


! 


LIFE    IN    TIIK    EARLY   CAMIiRIAN 


39 


If  now  in  imagination  we  cast  our  tow-net  or 
dred.;e  into  the  sea  of  the  Lower  Cambrian,  we 
may  hope  to  take  specimens  illustrative  of  all  our 
six  groups  of  invertebrate  animals,  and  under 
several  of  them  examples  of  more  than  one  subor- 
dinate group.  Of  the  Crustaceans  we  might  have 
representatives  of  four   or   five   ordinal  groups,  and 


Fig,  8. — Diagrammatic  section   of  t7vo  Lamince  of  Ciyptozoon,  sho^v- 
ing  the  Canals  of  the  intermediate  space,  or  Stroma  {magnified). 

Specimen  in  Peter  Redpath  Museum. 

of  the  Mollusca  as  many.  These  are  the  two 
highest  and  most  complicated.  In  the  four  lower 
groups  we  would  naturally  have  less  variety,  though 
it  would  seem  strange,  were  it  not  for  so  many 
examples  in  later  periods,  that  the  dominant  and 
highest  groups  should  be  most  developed  in  regard 
to  the  number  of  their  modifications. 

Of  the  whole  we  might  perhaps  have  been  able 
to  secure  at  least  200  species  even  in  one  locality. 


•ir^ 


40 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


I 
• 


i 


The  likelihood  is  that  if  there  had  been  a  collect- 
ing expedition  like  that  of  the  Challenger  in  Early- 
Cambrian  times,  it  could  have  secured  thousands 
of  specific  forms  representing  all  the  above  types, 
more  especially  as  we  probably  know  very  little  of 
the  softer  and  shell-less  animals  of  these  old  seas, 
and  there  is  some  reason  to  believe  that  these 
may  have  been  in  greater  proportion  than  in  the 
present  ocean. 

In  illustration  of  the  richness  of  some  parts  of 
the  lowest  Cambrian  sea,  I  may  refer  here  to  the 
large  and  beautifully  illustrated  Memoir  of  Walcott 
on  the  Lower  Cambrian,  containing  fifty  folio  plates 
of  species  collected  in  a  few  districts  of  North 
America  ;  and,  as  a  minor  example,  to  the  contents 
of  a  loose  boulder  of  limestone  of  that  age,  found 
at  Little  Metis  on  the  Lower  St.  Lawrence,  under 
the  following  circumstances  (Fig.  9) : — 

Along  what  is  now  the  valley  of  the  Lower  St. 
Lawrence  and  the  gulf  of  the  same  name,  there 
seem  to  have  been  deposited  in  the  oldest 
Cambrian  or  Olenellus  period  beds  of  limestone 
rich  in  shells  of  marine  animals  and  fragments 
of  these.  These  can  be  seen  in  place  in  some 
parts  of  Newfoundland,  and  here  and  there  on  the 


Fig.  9. — Lower  Cambrian  Fossils  found  in  a  fiw  cubic  iiulics  oj 
limestone  in  a  conglomerate  at  Little  Metis  ;  viz. ,  Trilobites  of  i^enera 
Olenellus,  Ptychoparia,  Solenopleura,  Protypus ;  Brachiopod  oJ  i^eiius 
Iphidea  ;  Pteropod  of  genus  Hyolithes  ;  Gastropod,  genus  Stenotheca  ; 
Sponge,  undetermined. 


41 


^  i 


i 


-I! 


ii  ill 


LIFK   IN    THE    KARLY   CAMBRIAN 


4S 


hills  bounding  the  St.  Lawrence  River ;  but  for 
the  most  part  they  have  been  swept  away  by  the 
sea  when  these  districts  were  being  elevated  to  form 
parts  of  the  American  land.  Their  ruins  appear  as 
boulders  and  pebbles  in  thick  beds  of  conglomerate 
or  pudding-stone,  constituting  portions  of  the 
Upper  Cambrian  and  Lower  Ordovician  series, 
which  now  occupy  the  south  coast  of  the  Lower 
St.  Lawrence.  In  one  of  these  boulders,  less  than 
a  foot  in  diameter,  removed  from  its  hard  matrix 
and  carefully  broken  up,  I  found  fragments  repre- 
senting eleven  different  species,  of  which  no  less 
than  eight  were  trilobites,  one  a  gastropod,  one  a 
brachiopod,  and  one  probably  a  sponge — and  this 
forms  an  interesting  illustration  of  the  number  of 
species  sometimes  to  be  found  in  a  limited  space, 
and  also  of  the  great  prevalence  of  the  Trilobites 
in  these  beds.  The  statistics  of  these  groups  for 
North  America,  as  given  by  Walcott,  show  165 
species  belonging  to  all  the  groups  enumerated 
above,  and  of  these  the  Trilobita  constitute  one-third 
of  the  whole ;  so  that  the  Olenellus  Zone,  as  it  has 
been  called  from  one  genus  of  these  Crustaceans, 
might  well  be  named  the  reign  of  Trilobites,  unless, 
indeed,  as  the  indications  already  referred  to  seem  to 


T" 


•il 


111 


'1  ■■  ' 
'it  ■  1 


ii 


11 


11 

:i  i 


1 


li! 


44 


RELICS   OF    PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


show,  giant  cuttle-fishes,  destitute  of  shells,  were  then 
the  tyrants  of  the  sea,  but  are  represented  only  by 
the  markings  of  their  long  and  muscular  arms  on 
the  soft  sea  mud  while  dashing  after  their  Crus- 
tacean prey.  What  I  desire,  however,  chiefly  to 
emphasize  is,  that  in  the  lowest  beds  of  the 
Cambrian  we  have  evidence  of  sea-bottoms  swarm- 
ing with  representatives  of  all  the  leading  types 
of  marine  invertebrate  life,  and  therefore  seem  to 
be  still  far  from  the  beginning  of  living  things,  if 
that  was  a  slow  and  gradual  process,  rather  than  a 
sudden  or  rapid  series  of  events. 


"1 
I 


i 


PRE-CAMBRIAN  LIFE 


46 


i\ 


is  I 


f  1' 


'I' 


•ft 


'.| 


^':i 


Ill 

PRE-CAMBRIAN  LIFE 

TT  AVING  traced  the  chain  of  life  through  the 
long  geological  ages,  from  the  present   day 
back   to   the   Cambrian    Period,  we   may  now   take 
our  stand   on   the   fauna   of   the    lowest   Cambrian 
or  Olenellus   Zone,  as  a   platform  whence  we  may 
dive  into  still  deeper  abysses  of  past   time.     Here, 
however,  we  seem  to  have  arrived  at  a  limit  beyond 
which  few  remains  of  living  things  have  yet  been 
discovered,  though  there  still   remain   pre-Cambrian 
deposits  of  vast  thickness  and  occupying  large  areas 
of  our  continents.     These  pre-Cambrian  formations 
are  as  yet  among  those  least  known  to  geologists. 
The  absence  of  fossils,  the  disturbances  and  adulter- 
ations which  the  rocks  themselves  have  undergone, 
and  which  make  their  relative  ages  and  arrangement 
difficult    to    unravel,   have   acted    as    deterrents    to 
amateur  geologists,  and  have  to  some  extent  baffled 
the  efforts  of  official  explorers.     In  addition  to  this, 
workers   in  different  regions  have  adopted  different 

47 


48 


RELICS   OF   TkLMEVAL   LIFE 


methods  of  arrangement  and  nomenclature  ;  and  in 
a  very  recent  address,  the  Director-General  of  the 
Geological  Survey  of  Great  Britain  expresses  his 
inability  to  satisfy  himself  of  the  equivalency  of 
the  different  pre-Cambrian  groups  on  the  opposite 
sides  of  the  Atlantic,  and  in  consequence  prefers 
to  retain  for  those  of  Britain  merely  local  names. 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  hold  the  modern 
theories  of  gradual  evolution  repudiate  the  idea 
that  the  Lower  Cambrian  fauna  can  be  primitive,  and 
demand  a  vast  series  of  changes  in  previous  time 
to  prepare  the  way  for  it.  In  any  case  this  com- 
paratively unexplored  portion  of  geological  time 
holds  out  the  inducement  of  mystery  and  the  possi- 
bility of  great  discoveries  to  the  hardy  adventurers 
who  may  enter  into  it.  It  must  now  be  our  effort  to 
explore  this  dim  and  mysterious  dawn  of  life,  and 
to  ascertain  what  forms,  if  any,  are  visible  amid 
its  fogs  and  mists. 

The  Kewenian  ok  Etcheminian. 

In  certain  basal  Cambrian  or  infra  -  Cambrian 
beds,  found  by  Matthew  in  Southern  New  Bruns- 
wick, by  Walcott  in  Colorado,  and  by  Scandinavian 
and  English  geologists  in  their  respective  countries, 


I 
34 


1^ 


PRE-CAMBRIAN   LIFE 


49 


we  find  a  few  remains  referred  to  Algae,  or  seaweeds  ; 
small  tests  or  shells  of  Protozoa ;  burrows  and  trails 
similar  to  those  of  modern  sea-worms  ;  a  few  bivalve 
shells  allied  to  modern  Lingulae,  but  presenting  some 
remarkable    generalized    characters;     some    bivalve 
and    shrimp-like    Crustaceans,   spicules   of   sponges, 
and  large  laminated  forms   (Cryptozoon)  similar  to 
those  already  referred  to  as  occurring  in  the  Upper 
Cambrian  ;    also   certain   mysterious    markings   that 
are  supposed   to  have  been  produced  by  the  arms 
or   tentacles   of   free-swimming  animals   of    various 
kinds.      In    these    lower    beds   the   Trilobites   have 
nearly  or  quite  disappeared,  being  represented  only 
by  doubtful  fragments.     The  beds  of  rock,   origin- 
ally sandy  or  muddy  sediments,  contain  fossils  very 
sparingly,  and   only  in   certain  layers  separated  by 
great   thicknesses   of  barren   material,  as   if  earthy 
matters   were   being   deposited   very  rapidly,   or    as 
if  animal   life  was   rare   on   the   sea-bottom  except 
at   intervals.      It   has,   however,   been   suggested    as 
possible!   that   much   of  the   marine   population   in 
those  early  times  consisted  of  pelagic  or  swimming 
.uiimals   destitute  of  any  hard  parts  that  could  be 


*  By  Prof.  Brookes,  of  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

4 


'   4 

j 
1 

1 

;l 
.1 

i 

i: 

-        i 

«| 

ii 

i         ill: 

, 

SO 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


preserved.  In  addition  to  biological  arguments 
in  favour  of  this  view,  there  is  the  fact  that  some 
of  the  beds  are  stained  with  carbonaceous  or  coaly 
matter,  as  if  the  sediment  had  been  mixed  with 
decomposed  remains  of  plants  or  animals  retaining 
no  determinate  forms.  Future  discoveries  may  in- 
crease our  knowledge  of  the  life  of  this  period 
preceding  the  Cambrian,  but  it  is  evident  that  so 
far  as  these  rocks  have  been  examined,  they  indicate 
a  great  step  downward  in  regard  to  the  variety  and 
complexity  of  marine  life. 

Still  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  in  later  periods 
there  have  been  times  of  rapid  deposition,  in  which, 
in  certain  localities  at  least,  great  thicknesses  of 
rock  with  few  organic  remains  were  formed.  We 
have  instances  of  this  in  the  later  Cambrian,  in  the 
Ordovician,  and  still  later  in  the  Permian  and  Trias. 
Thus  in  the  beds  immediately  underlying  the  lowest 
Cambrian  we  may  be  passing  through  a  tract  of 
comparative  barrenness  to  find  more  fertile  ground 
below. 

It  is  also  to  be  observed  that  there  is  evidence 
of  disturbance  occurring  in  the  interval  between, 
the  lowest  Cambrian  and  the  highest  pre-Cambrian, 
which  may  involve    the    lapse  of   much  time  not 


PRE-CAMBRIAN   LIFE 


51 


recorded  in  the  localities  hitherto 
explored,  but  of  which  monu- 
ments may  be  found  elsewhere. 

We     may    now,     taking    some 
North  American  localities   as   our 
best  available  guides,  inquire  as  to 
the  nature  and  contents  of  the  beds 
next  below  the  Lower  Cambrian. 
In    Southern    New    Brunswick, 
Matthew   indicated,   several   years 
ago,  the  occurrence  of  certain  con- 
glomerates  and   sandy   and   slaty 
beds   over    the    rocks,    mostly   of 
igneous  origin,  constituting  a  great 
thickness  of  beds  under  the  Cam- 
brian,   and  known    locally   as    the 
"  Cold  brook  "  series,  which  is  pro- 
bably equivalent  to  the  Huronian 
of  Northern  and  Western  Canada, 
to  be  noticed  later.      These  beds 
were  at  first  regarded  as  an  upper 
member  of  the  Huronian,  but  sub-  ^ 
sequently  it  was  thought  better  to  ^ 
unite    them    with    the     overlying  ^ 
Cambrian     as     basal     Cambrian. 


"^.m 


w- 


o 


^    2 


(A 


a  I  «■ 


> 
i 


S3 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


!ll 


The  fact  that  these  problematical  beds  were  ascer- 
tained to  be  unconformable  to  the  Cambrian,  and  the 
peculiarity  of  their  fossils,  led  to  their  being  con- 
stituted a  separate  group  under  the  name  EtcJie- 
minian,  which  seems  to  represent  a  time  and  conditions 
introductory  to  the  Cambrian  (Fig.  lo).  The  fossils  in 
these  beds  are  few  and  hard  to  find.  Matthew  has 
kindly  furnished  me  with  the  following  list.^  The 
Trilobites  are  conspicuous  by  their  absence.  Sea- 
worms  have  left  burrows,  trails,  and  casts,  which 
probably  represent  several  species  (Fig.  ii).  A  single 
little  shell  (Volborthella)  is  supposed  to  be  a  pre- 
cursor of  the  straight  chambered  shells  allied  to  the 
modern  nautilus,  which  become  so  large  and  numer- 
ous in  succeeding  periods.  There  are  a  few  univalve 
[.hell-fishes  allied  to  modern  sea-snails,  a  brachiopod 
of  the  antique  genus  Obolus,  some  fragments  sup- 
posed to  represent  Cystideans,  a  rudimentary  type  of 
the  stalked  sea-stars  so  abundant  later,  spicules  of 
sponges  and  minute  Protozoa,  with  shells  not  unlike 
those  of  their  modern  successors.  This  meagre  list 
sums  up  the  forms  of  life  known  in  the  Etcheminian 
of   this    district,  one   in  which  the   Cambrian  beds 

*  "  Transactions  Royal  Society  of  Canada,"  vol  vii. 


Mi 


tkE-CAMURIAN   LIFE 


53 


FlO,  II. — Trails  of  Worms  of  two  types  {Psammchnites  and  Planilites). 


-  '-is 


# 


exhibit  the  rich  and  varied  fauna  of  Trilobites  and 
other  animals  described  and  figured  by  Matthew  in 
several  successive  volumes  of  the  "  Transactions  of 
the  Royal  Society  of  Canada"  (Fig.   12). 

Beds  in  Newfoundland  (the  Signal  Hill  and 
Random  Sound  series),  underlying  the  Lower 
Cambrian,  have  afforded  to  Murray  and  Billings 
some  well  -  characterized  worm-castings  of  spiral 
form,  and  a  few  problematical  forms  known  as 
Aspidella,  which  may  be  Crustaceans  or  Mollusks 
allied  to  the  limpets  (Fig.   13). 

In    a  thick   series   of  pre-Cambrian   beds   in   the 


I  li 


I ' 


!  }.-i 


OL. 


^' 


/ 


Fig.   12. — Group  of  pre- Cambrian  [Etcheminiati)  Animals  from  the 

Etcheminian.     (After  Matthew.) 

The  name  "  Etcheminian  "  is  derived  from  that  of  an  ancient  Indian  tribe  of 

New  Brunswick. 

(a)  Volborthella,  supposed  to  be  a  Cephalopod  shell.  (J))  Pelagiella.  (c)  Ortho- 
theca,  supposed  to  be  Pteropods.  (rf)  Priniiiia,  an  O^tracod  Crustacean,  [e]  Obohis, 
a  Brachiopod  shell.  (/")  Platysolenites,  probably  fragment  of  a  Cystiuean. 
(^)  Globigerinse,  casts  of  Foraminiferal  shells,  Etcheminian,  New  Brunswick. 


Fig.    13. — Arenicolites  {Spiroscolex)  spirala   (Billings)  and  Aspidella 
tenanovica  (Billings),  Signal  Hill  Series,  Neitfoundland, 

64 


i'l  1' 


ll  I 


he 


lO- 

IS, 

in. 


7a 


1 


I 


Fig.    li,.— Fragment  of  Cryptozoon,    Graud  Cafiou,  Arizona. 

Photograph  from  a  specimen  presented  by  Dr.  Walcott  to  the 
Peter  Kedpath  Museum. 


66 


PRIi-CAMItklAN    LIFE 


57 


Colorado  Cailon  in  the  Western  United  States, 
VValcott  has  found  a  small  roundish  shell  of  uncer- 
tain affinities,'  a  species  of  Hyolithes,  probably  a 
swimming  sea-snail  or  Ptcropod,  a  small  fra-rnent 
which  may  possibly  have  belonged  to  a  Trilobite, 
and  some  laminated  forms  which,  if  organic,  are 
related  to  the  Cryptozoon  already  mentioned  (Fig 
14). 

The  Kewenian  series  of  Lake  Superior  has 
yielded  no  fossils,  but  the  pipcstonc  beds  of  Minne- 
sota, supposed  to  be  about  the  same  age,  have 
afforded  a  small  bivalve  shell  allied  to  Lingula  ; « 
and  the  black  shales  of  the  head  of  Lake  Superior 
contain  some  impressions  supposed  to  be  trails  of 
animals.^ 

It  has  been  a  question  whether  the  beds  above 
referred  to  should  be  regarded  as  a  downward  con- 
tinuation of  the  Cambrian,  or  as  the  upper  part 
of  an  older  system.  Matthew,  whose  opinion  on 
such  a  subject  is  of  the  highest  authority,  regards 
them  as  a  distinct  system,  but  as  belonging,  with 
the  Cambrian,  to  the  great  Paleozoic  Period.     Van 


'  Discinoid  or  Patelloid.  »  Winchell. 

^  Selwyn  and  Matthew. 


!i 


:■'■■        'H 

'I  i 


58 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


Hise,  and  some  other  United  States  authorities, 
would  separate  them  even  from  the  Palaeozoic,  and 
unite  them  with  the  underlying  Huronian,  as  re- 
presenting a  "  Proterozoic  "  or  "  Algonkian  "  Period. 
This  is  merely  a  matter  of  classification,  necessarily 
more  or  less  arbitrary;  but  I  believe  the  facts  to 
be  stated  subsequently  show  that  it  will  be  best 
to  unite  the  Etcheminian  and  its  equivalents  with 
the  Palaeozoic,  and  to  place  the  groups  lower  than 
this  in  one  great  division,  equivalent  to  Palaeozoic, 
and  for  which  many  years  ago  I  proposed  the 
name  "  Eozoic,"  or  that  of  the  Dawn  of  Life. 

Having  thus  hastily  glanced  at  the  slender  fauna 
of  the  rocks  immediately  below  the  Cambrian,  we 
may  now  proceed  to  inquire  a  little  more  in  detail 
into  its  true  value  and  import  as  leading  toward  the 
beginning  of  life.  I  have  already  referred  to  the 
apparenily  sudden  drop  in  the  number  of  group.s  ,nd 
of  species  below  the  base  of  the  Cambrian,  and  have 
hinted  that  this  may  be  an  effect  of  temporary  local 
conditions  of  deposit  or  of  defective  information. 
Another  fact  that  strikes  us  is  the  dive  "e  and  mis- 
cellaneous character  of  the  fossils  that  remain  to  us  ; 
and  this  would  suggest  that  we  are  either  dealing 
with  a  mere  handful  picked   at  random,  as  it  were, 


II  I 


PRE-CAMJiRIAN    LIFE 


59 


out  of  a  richer  fauna,  or   that  in  the  beginning  of 
things  the  gaps  and  missing  h'nks  between  different 
forms  of  hfe  were  even  more   pronounced  than   at 
present.     This,   however,   would   be   hkely   to   occur 
\i:  the   plan   of    creation   was    to   represent   at   first 
chTferent  types,  with  few  forms  in  each ;  to  produce, 
in  short,  a  sort  of  type   collection  representing  the 
whole  range  of  organization  by  a  few  characteristic 
things   rather  than  to  give  a   complete  series,  with 
all  the  intermediate  connections.     Such  a  mode  of 
introduction  of  life  is  not  d  priori  improbable,  how- 
ever at  variance  with  some  prevalent  hypotheses. 

Beginning  with  the  higher  Invertebrates,  we  must 
not  conclude  that  we  have  altogether  lost  the  Trilo- 
bites.     The   fragments   referred   to   this   group   may 
represent  at  least   a   {^v^  species,  and   it   would    be 
very  interesting  to  know  more  of  these  as  to  their 
relations  to  their  successors,  and   whether  they  are 
tending   to   lower   or   more   embryonic  forms.     The 
bivalve  Crustaceans  (Ostracods)  may  be  regarded  as 
inferior  in  rank  to  the  Trilobites,  but  are  still  very 
complex,  and   specialized   animals   and   a   specimen 
silicified   in  such  a  manner  as  to  show  the  interior 
organs  testified  that,  as  far  back  as  the  Carboniferous 
at  least,  these  creatures  were  as  highly  organized  as 


6o 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


iii 


;  I 


Ml 


at  present,*  while  their  generally  larger  size  in  the 
earlier  formations  tends  to  show  that  they  have 
rather  been  degenerating  in  the  lapse  of  geological 
time. 

In  regard  to  the  Sea-worms,  the  burrows,  cast- 
ings, and  trails  found  in  the  pre-Cambrian  beds  are 
scarcely,  if  at  all,  different  from  those  now  seen  on 
sandy  and  muddy  shores,  and  would  seem  to  indicate 
that  these  highly  organized  and  very  sensitive  and 
active  creatures  swarmed  in  the  muddy  bottom  of 
the  pre-Cambrian  Sea,  and  lived  in  the  same  way 
as  at  present.  It  is  impossible,  however,  to  know 
anything  of  the  internal  structures  of  these  creatures, 
but  the  marks  left  by  their  bristle-bearing  feet  seem 
to  indicate  that  some  of  them  at  least  belong  to 
the  higher  group  of  Sea-centipedes,  creatures  rival- 
ling the  Crustaceans  in  complexity  of  organization, 
and  near  to  them  in  plan  of  structure,  though  at 
present  usually  widely  separated  from  them  in  cur- 
rent systems  of  classification.  In  the  Ordovician 
system,  next  above  the  Cambrian,  Hinde  has  found 
many  curiously  formed  jaws  of  animals  of  this  kind, 


I 


*  PalcBocypris  Edwardsi,  Brougniart,  Coal  Formation  of  St. 
Etienne,  France. 


li  »> 


PRE-CAMI3RIAN   LIFE  ^j 


which  show  at  least  that  their  ahmentary  arrange- 
ments were  similar  to  those  now  in  force.     If  any 
of   the    problematical    "  Conodonts "   discovered   by 
Pander   in    the    Cambrian    of    Russia    belonged   to 
marine    worms,   this   inference    would   be   extended 
back  to  the  Lower  Cambrian,  so  that  if  the  evidence 
of    structure    anywhere    remains   we    may   hope   to 
find  that  the  pre-Cambrian  worms  were  not  inferior 
to    their    more    modern    successors,    perhaps    even 
that     in    this    early    period,    when     they    probably 
played   a  more  important  part  in  nature,  they  were 
of  higher  organization  than  in  later  times. 

The  evidence  as  to  pre-Cambrian  mollusks.  so  far 
as  it  goes,  is   even   more  curious.     The  little   shell 
called  Volborthella,  so  far  as  can  be  judged  from  its 
form   and   internal   structure,  is   a   miniature   repre- 
sentative of  these  straight  Nautili,  the  Orthoceratites 
of  the  Ordovician  and  later  PaLxozoic  rocks  ;  and  no 
one  doubts  that  these  latter  belong  to  the  highest 
class   of  the   Mollusks,  a  class   approaching   in    the 
development  of  nerve  system  and  sensory  organs  to 
the   Vertebrates  themselves.     This  tiny  member  of 
the  great  class  of  Cuttle-fishes  may  perhaps  have  been 
more  nearly  allied  to   the  modern  Spirula  than    to 
the  Nautilus.     In   any  case,  if,   as  seems  altogether 


62 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL  LIF£ 


i.'  1 


III 


I 


Ml' 


probable  it  was,  a  mollusk,  it  must  have  been  one 
of  advanced  type,  and  with  a  highly  complex  struc- 
ture, as  well  as  the  singular  apparatus  for  flotation 
implied  in  a  chambered  shell  with  a  siphuncle. 

Next  to  this  among  these  primitive  Mollusks  are 
straight  and  spiral  shells  representing  those  delicate 
and  beautiful  animals  of  the  modern  seas,  the 
Pteropods,  or  wing-footed  Sea-snails,  beautiful  and 
graceful  creatures,  the  butterflies  of  the  sea,  and 
moving  in  the  water  with  the  greatest  ease  and 
beauty  by  the  aid  of  membranous  fins,  or  wings, 
sometimes  brightly  coloured.  These  creatures 
abound  in  all  latitudes  in  the  modern  ocean,  and 
their  delicate  shells  sometimes  accumulate  in  beds 
of  "  Pteropod  sand."  They  very  early  entered  on 
the  arena  of  marine  life,  and  have  continued  to  this 
day. 

We  miss  here  the  two  great  Molluscan  ^'oups  of 
the  creeping  Sea-snails  like  the  limpet  and  whelk, 
and  of  the  ordinary  bivalves  like  the  oyster  and 
cockle.  Both  are  present  in  the  lowest  Cambrian, 
though  in  small  numbers  compared  with  their 
present  abundance.  Possibly  they  had  not  yet  ap- 
peared in  the  Etchcminian  Sea,  though  the  muddy 
and    sandy    bottoms,   evidenced   by   its   slates    and 


PRE-CAMBRIAN   LIFE 


63 


sandstones,  would  seem  to  have  afforded  favourable 
habitats,  and  warrant  the  expectation  that  species 
may  yet  be  found. 

The   case   was  different   with   the   little  group  of 
the  Lamp-shells,   or    Brachiopods.     These  creatures, 
somewhat  resembling  the  ordinary  bivalves  in  their 
shelly   coverings,   were   very  dissimilar   in    their   in- 
ternal structure,  and  once  settled  on  the  bottom  they 
were  attached  for  life,  not  having  even  the  limited 
means   of   locomotion    possessed   by    the    Sea-snails 
and   common   bivalves.      They  collected    their   food 
wholly  by  means  of  currents  of  water  produced  by 
cilia,   or    movable   threads,    on    arms    or    processes 
within   their  shells.      In    this    they    resembled    the 
young  or  embryo  stages  of  some  of  the  more  ordin- 
ary Mollusks,  though  they  are  so  remote  from  these 
in  their  adult  condition  that  they  have  usually  been 
placed  in  a  distinct  class,  and  some  naturalists  have 
thought  it  best  to  separate  them  from  the  Mollusks 
altogether.     Their  history  is  peculiar.     Coming  into 
existence   at   a  very  early   date,  they  became   ver)' 
abundant  in   early  Palaeozoic  times,  then  gradually 
gave    place   to    the    ordinary   bivalves,   and   in    the 
modern   seas   are  represented    by  very   few   species. 
Yet  while  in  the  middle  period  of  their  history  they 


i 


64 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


are  represented  by  very  many  peculiar  specific  and 
generic  forms.  Some  of  the  earliest  types,  like 
Obolus  and  Lin^ula,  persist  very  long,  and  the  latter 
has  continued  without  change  from  the  Early  Cam- 
brian to  the  Modern  period. 

The  great  group  of  the  Sea-stars  and  Sea-urchins 
appears  only  in  a  few  of  its  lower  forms,  and  seems 
to  be  the  only  class  represented  by  embryonic  types. 
The  coral  animals  are  absent,  so  far  as  known. 
The  Jelly-fishes  and  their  allies  cannot  be  preserved 
as  fossils,  but  some  peculiar  markings,  at  one  time 
regarded  as  plants,  are  now  supposed  to  be  trails 
made  by  the  tentacles  of  creatures  of  this  kind 
moving  over  muddy  bottoms.  A  few  spicules  in- 
dicate Sponges,  and  the  ubiquitous  groups  of  the 
marine  Protozoa,  the  Foraminifera  and  the  Radio- 
launus,  are  represented  by  shells  scarcely  distinguish- 
able from  those  of  modern  species.  The  great  and 
peculiar  forms  represented  at  this  early  time  by 
Cryptozoon  and  its  allies  seem  long  ago  to  have 
perished,  and  we  shall  have  to  return  to  them  in  a 
later  stage  of  our  inquiry. 

To  sum  up  the  little  that  we  know  of  this 
earliest  Palaeozoic  life  : — It  was  perfect  of  its  kind, 
equally  pregnant  with  evidences  of  design,  and  of 


PRE-CAMBRIAN   LIFE 


6S 


the   nicest   and    most    delicate    contrivance    as   the 
animal   life   of  any   later   time,  and   it   presupposed 
vcj^rctable   life    and    multitudes    of    minute    organic 
beings    altogether    unknown   to   us    to   nourish    the 
creatures  we   do  know.     As  an  example  of  this,  a 
little   Brachiopod   or  sponge  nourished  by  the  cur- 
rents  produced  by  its  cilia,  or  a  Jelly-fish  gathering 
food   by  its   thread-like  tentacles,   or  a   Globigerina 
selecting  its  nourishment  by  its  delicate  gelatinous 
pseudopods,  required  an  ocean  swarming  with  minute 
forms  of  life,  which  probably  can  never  be  known 
to  us,  but  every  one  of  which  must  have  been  an  in- 
scrutable miracle  of  organization  and  vital  function. 

Lastly,  with  reference  to  our  present  subject,  the 
Etcheminian   fossils  carry  life  backward   one  whole 
great  period  earlier  than  the  Lower  Cambrian,  and 
appear  to  indicate  that  we  are  approaching  a  begin- 
,  ning  of  living  things  in  the  Palaeozoic  world.     Much 
no  doubt   remains   to  be   discovered,    but   it   would 
seem    that    any    future     discoveries    must     fail    to 
negative  this  conclusion. 

The  Huron  IAN. 
In   whatever    way   the   rocks    immediately   below 
the   Cambrian   may   be   classified,  it  is  certain   that 

s 


66 


RELICS   OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


\4    ii 


Mi  ^ 


-"■  ii 
i  i 


the  next  system  in  descending  order  is  that  to 
wliich  Logan  long  ago  gave  the  name  Huronian, 
from  its  development  on  Lake  Huron ' — a  name  to 
which  it  is  still  entitled,  though  there  may,  perhaps, 
be  some  grounds  for  dividing  it  into  an  upper  and 
lower  member.2  To  this  sub-division,  however,  we 
need  not  for  the  present  give  any  special  attention. 
In  the  typical  area  of  Lake  Huron  the  Huronian 
consists  of  quartzites,  which  are  merely  hardened 
sandstones,  of  slates  which  are  muddy  or  volcanic-ash 
beds,  of  conglomerates  or  pebble-rocks,  and  of  coarse 
earthy  limestone.  With  these  rocks  are  deposits 
of  igneous  material  which  represent  contemporary 
volcanic  eruptions.  In  other  districts,  as  in  New 
Brunswick,  Newfoundland,  etc.,  the  beds  have  been 
considerably  altered,  and  are  locally  more  mixed 
with  igneous   products.      The  physical  picture   pre- 


*  Dr.  G.  M.  Dawson,  F.R.S.,  the  present  Director  of  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  of  Canada,  whose  judgment  in  this  matter  should 
be  of  the  highest  value,  holds  that  the  original  simple  arrange- 
ment of  Logan  still  holds,  notwithstanding  the  multitude  of 
new  names  proposed  by  the  Western  Geologists  of  the  United 
States. 

2  Van    Hise,   "  Pre-Cambrian   Rocks  of   North    America." 
Comptes  RenduSy   5th   Session    International   Geol.  Congress 
1891,  p.  134.    Also  "Report  U.S.  Geol.  Survey,  1895." 


■\ 


rRE-CAMI]RIAN    LIFE 


^7 


sented  to  us  by  the  Huronian  is  that  of  a  shore 
deposit,  formed  under  circumstanceij  in  which  beds 
of  pebbles  and  sand  were  intermixed  with  the  pro- 
ducts of  neii^hbouring  volcanoes.  Such  a  formation 
is  not  likely  to  afford  fossils  in  any  considerable 
number  and  variety,  even  if  deposited  at  a  time  of 


|eo- 

luld 

[ge- 
of 
lited 


lea 


» 


Fig.   15- — Annelid  Burroxvs,  Hastings  Series ^  Madoc, 

I.  Transverse  section  of  Worm-hurroiu  —  magnified,  as  a  transparent  object. 
{a)  Calcnreo-siiicious  rock.  (/')  Space  filled  with  cilcareous  spar,  (f)  Sand  agglut- 
inated and  stained  black,  (d'  Sand  less  agglutinated  and  uncoloured.  a.  Trans- 
verse section  of  IVortn-burrotu  on  weathered  surface,  natural  size.  3.  The  same, 
magnified. 

abundant  marine  life.  It  is  therefore  not  wonderful 
that  we  find  little  evidence  of  living  beings  in  the 
Huronian.  In  Canada  I  can  point  to  nothing  of 
this  kind,  except  a  few  cylindrical  burrows,  pro- 
bably of  worms  (Fig.  15),  and  spicules  possibly  of 
silicious  sponges,  which  occur  in  nodules  of  chert 
in    the   limestones,   traces   of  laminated   forms   like 


u 


III    j: 


)H 


1^ 


68 


RELICS   OK    I'RIMKVAL    LIFE 


Cryptozoon  or  Eozoon  (Fig.  17),  and  minute  car- 
bonaceous fragments  which  may  be  debris  of  sea- 
weeds or  Zoo{)li)'tes.  In  rocks  of  similar  age  in  the 
United  States,  Gresley  has  recently  discovered 
worm-burrows,  and  in  Brittany  there  are  quartzite 
beds   in   which    Barrois   and    Cayeux    beHeve    that 


u 


Fig.   16. — Cas/s  of  Foravnniferay  from  the  Huronian  of  Briltany, 

(After  Cayeux.) 

Compare  with  Globigerinae  on  Fig.  12  and  Archaeospherinae,  Figs.  50-54. 

they  have  found  tests  of  Radiolarians,  Foraminifera 
and  spicules  of  sponges,  but  their  organic  nature  has 
been  denied  by  Rauff,  of  Bonn.  The  casts  of  Fora- 
minifera, however,  at  least  appear  to  be  organic 
(Fig.  16),  and  it  is  quite  likely  that  Cayeux  may  be 


)ra- 
inic 
be 


Fig.   17. — Cryptozoon  or  Eozoon  from  the  Hastings  Series^   Tudor, 

Ontario  (natural  size). 

From  a  specimen  collected  by  the  late  Mr.  Veiinor,  and  now  in  the  collection  of 
the  Geological  Survey,  Ottawa.  (See  also  Frontispiece  and  figure  oi  Eozoon  Bavari- 
cum,  p.  213.) 

69 


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IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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PRE-CAMliUlAN  LIFE 


;i 


able  to  verify  his  Radiolarians  and  sponges  as  well 
Matthew's  observations  in  New  Brunswick  in  any 
case  estabhsh  their  probability.  Gumbel  also  re- 
cognises a  species  of  Eo^oon  in  the  equivalent  rocks 
of  Bavaria  (see  p.  213). 

It  is  evident  that  here  we  have  approached  the 
.m,t  of   the   higher  forms   of   marine    invertebrate 
-.fe,  having  as  yet  nothing   to  show  except  worms 
and    Protozoa.     It  is  to  be  observed,  however,  that 
there  may  be  somewhere  Huronian  deposits  formed 
>n   deep  and   quiet  waters,  which   may  give   better 
results,    and    that    the    unconformity    between    the 
Huronian   and  overlying  Kewenian   may  indicate  a 
lapse  of  time,  of  which  monuments  may  yet  be  found. 

The  Laurentian. 
Last  of  all  we  have   the  widely  distributed  Lau- 
rentian   system    of   Logan,    the    oldest    known    to 
geologists,  and  which  with  the  Huronian  constitutes 
the  great  Archaean  group  of  formations  of  Dana  and 
others.     In   its   lowest  part  this  consists  entirely  of 
the  stratified  granitic   rock  known  as  gneiss,  inter- 
bedded  m  some  places  with  dark-coloured  crystalline 
rocks  or  schists.     This  may  be  a  part  of  the  <5rst- 
formed  crust  of  our  globe,  produced  under  conditions 


I 


{\ 


n 


RELICS   OF   TRIMEVAL  LIFE 


different  from  those  of  any  later  rocks,  and  incom- 
patible with  the  existence  of  life.  The  upper  part 
of  the  Lauren tian  system,  however,  known  in 
Canada  as  the  "Grenville  Series,"  shows  evidence 
of  ordinary  marine  deposition  in  quiet  waters,  which 
may  have  been  not  unfavourable  to  the  lower 
forms  of  marine  life ;  and  though  its  beds  have 
been  greatly  changed  by  heat  and  pressure,  we  can 
still  to  some  extent  realize  the  conditions  of  a  time 
of  comparative  quiescence  intervening  between  the 
underlying  Lower  Laurentian  and  the  succeeding 
Huronian.  This  part  of  the  system  still  contains 
gneisses,  bedded  diorites,  and  other  rocks  which 
may  have  been  volcanic  ;  but  it  has  also  quartzites 
and  quartzose  gneisses  which  must  have  been  sand- 
stones or  shales,  thick  limestones,  beds  of  carbon 
now  in  the  state  of  graphite  or  plumbago,  and  large 
beds  of  iron  ore.  Such  rocks  were  in  all  succeed- 
ing formations  produced  under  water  and  by  accu- 
mulations of  the  remains  of  plants  and  the  hard 
parts  of  animals,  in  strictly  sedimentary  beds, 
usually  formed  slowly  and  without  mechanical 
disturbance.  Hence  we  may  infer  that  aquatic  life 
at  least  existed  in  this  early  period,  and  as  there 
must  have  been  land  and  water,  shallows  cind  deep 


PRE-CAMBRIAN    LIFE 


fi 


seas,  there  may  have  been  scope  for  various  kinds 
of  living  beings.  The  Grenville  period  is,  however, 
separated  from  the  succeeding  Huronian  by  a  great 
interval,  occupied  mainly  by  volcanic  ejections  and 
earth-movements ;  so  that  our  Grenville  series,  if  it 
contains  organic  remains,  may  be  supposed  to  afford 
species  differing  from  those  of  the  Huronian,  and 
to  form  a  sort  of  oasis  in  the  desert  of  the  early 
pre-Cambrian  world.  We  find  that  the  limestones 
of  this  age  actually  contain  remains  supposed  to 
be  of  animal  origin.  They  were  first  found  in 
Canada,  which  contains  the  largest  and  best  ex- 
posed area  of  these  rocks  in  the  world,  and  were 
brought  under  the  notice  of  geologists  by  the  late 
Sir  William  E.  Logan,  the  first  director  of  the 
Geological  Survey  of  that  country. 

In  anticipation  of  details  to  be  given  later,  the 
story  of  this  discovery  and  its  announcement  may 
here  be  given  in  brief. 

As  early  as  1858,  Sir  William  Logan  had  begun 
to  suspect  that  certain  laminated  bodies  found  in  the 
Laurentian  limestones  of  the  Grenville  series  mi^iht 
be  of  organic  origin.  The  points  which  struck  him 
were  these :  They  differed  from  any  known  lamin- 
ated   concretions  ;   they   resembled    the  "  Stromato- 


1  li 


■i  i 


I 

I 


!fl 


• 


74 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


porae  "  or  layer-corals  of  the  lower  Palaeozoic  rocks 
next  in  succession  to  the  Laurentian  and  Huronian  ; 
the  forms  were  similar  in  all  the  specimens,  while 
the  mineralizing  substances  were  different ;  they 
were  found  only  in  the  limestone,  and  specially  in 
one  of  the  three  great  beds  known  in  the  formation, 
the  upper  limestone  of  the  Granville  system.  He 
exhibited  specimens,  and  mentioned  these  probabili- 
ties at  the  meeting  of  the  American  Association  in 
1859.  In  1862  it  was  suggested  to  Logan  that  the 
microscopic  structure  of  some  of  the  best  preserved 
examples  should  be  studied,  and  slices  were  accord- 
ingly prepared  and  submitted  to  the  writer  for 
examination.  They  revealed  in  the  calcareous 
laminae  of  the  specimens  complicated  systems  of 
canals  or  tubes  filled  with  mineral  matter,  which 
appeared  to  be  similar  to  those  that  Carpenter  had 
recognised  in  the  thickened  parts  of  the  shells  of 
modern  Foraminifera.  This  clew  being  followed, 
large  numbers  of  slices  of  the  supposed  fossils  and  of 
the  containing  limestone  and  of  similar  limestones 
from  other  parts  of  the  world  were  examined. 

The  writer  also  visited  the  localities  of  "  Eozoon," 
and  studied  its  mode  of  occurrence  in  situ.  The 
facts   ascertained   were  communicated   to   the   Geo- 


PRE-CAM BRIAN    LIFE 


75 


of 
ich 
lad 

of 

ed, 
of 

nes 

)n," 
'he 

ieo- 


logical  Society  of  London,  the  name  "  Eozoon 
Canadense "  being  proposed  for  the  species.  Its 
description  was  accompanied  by  a  paper  on  the 
geological  conditions  by  Logan,  and  one  on  the 
chemical  conditions  by  Sterry  Hunt,  while  sup- 
plementary notes  were  added  by  the  late  Dr. 
Carpenter  and  Professor  T.  Rupert  Jones.  Thus 
launched  on  the  scientific  world,  "  Eozoon  "  at  once 
became  a  fertile  subject  of  discussion,  and  volumes 
of  more  or  less  controversial  literature  have  appeared 
respecting  it.  It  still  has  its  friends  and  opponents, 
and  this  may  long  continue,  as  so  few  scientific  men 
are  sufficiently  acquainted  on  the  one  hand  with  the 
possibilities  and  conditions  of  the  preservation  of 
fossils  in  crystalline  rocks,  and  on  the  other  hand 
with  the  structures  of  modern  "  Protozoa."  Thus,  few 
are  in  a  position  to  form  an  independent  judgment, 
and  "  Eozoon  "  has  met  with  some  scepticism  on  the 
part  both  of  biological  and  mineralogical  specialists. 

To  aid  us  in  forming  an  opinion,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  consider  the  oldest  known  strata  of 
the  earth's  crust,  and  the  evidence  which  they  afford 
of  the  condition  of  the  world  when  they  were  de- 
posited. As  preliminary  to  this,  we  may  look  at  the 
following  table  of  pre-Cambrian  formations  in  Canada. 


;« 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


I   ! 


1 1 
I.  i 


o 

N 

o 


< 


SUCCESSION  OF  PRE-CAMHRIAN  ROCKS  IN 

CANADA,  AS   UNDERSTOOD   UP  TO    1896. 

(In  descending  order ^ 

'  Etcheminian  in  New  Brunswick,  Kewenian  or  Upper 
Copper-bearing  Series  of  Lake  Superior,  Signal  Hill 
Series  of  Newfoundland.  Chuar^  and  Grand  Cation 
rocks  of  Colorado,  etc. 

Red  and  greenish  Sandstc  js  and  Shales,  Con- 
glomerates, Igneous  Outflows  and  Ash-rocks.  Bivalve 
Crustacea,  Mollusks,  Worms,  Sponges,  Cystideans, 
Zoophytes,  Protozoa,  Cryptozoon. 

( Unconformity^ 


o 

N 

o 


HURONIAN,  including  Hastings  of  Ontario,  Coldbrook 
and  Coastal  of  New  Brunswick,  Algonkian  (in  part). 
Conglomerates,  Hard  Sandstones,  Shales  and  Schists, 
Iron  Ores,  Coarse  Limestones,  Igneous  Outflows,  and 
Ash-rocks.  Worms,  Sponges,  Zoophytes,  and  Proto- 
zoa (Cryptozoon  or  Eozoon). 


\ 


o 

N 

o 


o 

N 

< 


(Unconformity  [/]) 


Grenvillian  or  Upper  Laurentiaa 

Gneiss,  Hornblendic  and  Micaceous  Schists,  Lime- 
stones, Quartzite,  Iron  Ores,  Graphite.  Eozoon,  Archae- 
ozoon,  Archaeospherinae,  Archaeophyton. 


Unconformity. 


ARCHiEAN  or  Lower  Laurentian. 

Gneiss,  Hornblende  Schists,  with   many  igneous  or 
igneo-aqueous  intrusions. 


THE  FOUNDATIONS  OF  THE  CONTINENTS,  AND 
THEIR  GENERAL  TESTIMONY  AS  TO  LIFE 


77 


■3! 


'i 

'•4 
■I 


I 


IV 

THE  FOUNDATIONS  OF  THE  CONTINENTS,  AND 
THEIR  GENERAL  TESTIMONY  AS  TO  LIFE 

T^HAT    the   reader    may   be   enabled    better   to 
understand    the   relation   of   the   old   founda- 
tions or  pillars  of  the  earth  to  the  be^nnning  of  life, 
and  the  preservation  of  the  remains  of  the  earliest 
animals,  it  may  be  welK  to  reverse  the  method   we 
have  hitherto  followed,  and  to  present  a  theoretical 
or  ideal  historical  sketch  of  the  early  history  of  the 
^arth,  beginning  with  that  stage  in  which  it  may  be 
supposed  to  have  been  a  liquid  mass,  considerably 
larger  than  it  is  at  present,  and  intensely  heated,  and 
surrounded  by  a  vast  vaporous  envelope  composed 
of  all  the  substances  capable  of  being  resolved   by 
its   heat   into  a    gaseous   condition-a   smooth   and 
shining  spheroid,  invested  with   an  enormous  atmo- 
sphere. 

In  such  a  condition  its  denser  materials,  such  as 
the  heavier  metals,  would  settle  toward  the  centre 
and   the  surface   would   consist  of  lighter  material 

78 


80 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIKE 


. 


■J    ' 


composed  of  the  less  dense  and  more  oxidizable  sub- 
stances combined  with  oxygen,  and  similar  in  cha- 
racter and  appearance  to  the  slag  which  forms  on 
the  surface  of  some  ores  in  the  process  of  smelting. 
Of  this  slaggy  material  there  might,  however,  be 
different  layers  more  or  less  dense  in  proceeding 
from  the  interior  to  the  surface.  This  molten  sur- 
face would,  of  course,  radiate  heat  into  space ;  and 
as  it  would  naturally  consist  of  the  least  fusible 
matters,  these  would  begin  to  form  a  solid  crust. 
We  may  imagine  this  crust  at  first  to  be  smooth 
and  unbroken,  though  such  a  condition  could 
scarcely  exist  for  any  length  of  time,  as  the  hard- 
ened crust  would  certainly  be  disturbed  by  ascend- 
ing currents  from  within,  and  by  tidal  movements 
without.  Still,  it  might  remain  for  ages  as  a  spher- 
oidal crust,  presenting  little  difference  of  elevation 
or  depression  in  comparison  with  its  extent.  When 
it  became  sufficiently  thick  and  cool  to  allow  water 
to  lie  on  its  surface,  new  changes  would  begin. 
The  water  so  condensed  would  be  charged  with 
acid  substances  which  would  begin  to  corrode  the 
rocky  surface.  Penetrating  into  crevices  and  flash- 
ing into  steam  as  it  reached  the  heated  interior,  it 
would  blow  up  masses  and  fragments  of  stone,  and 


THE   FOUNDATIONS  OF   THE  CONTINENTS       8l 


ter 

in. 

ith 

the 

sh- 

I.  it 
ind 


i 


would  perhaps  force  out  and  cause  to  flow  over  the 
surface  beds  of  molten  material  from  below  the 
crust,  and  differing  somewhat  from  it  in  their  com- 
position. All  this  aqueous  work  would  accelerate 
the  cooling  and  thickening  of  the  crust,  and  at 
length  a  universal  or  almost  universal  heated 
ocean  would  envelope  the  globe,  and  so  far  as  its 
surface  was  concerned,  the  reign  of  water  would 
replace  that  of  fire.  We  may  pause  here  to  con- 
sider the  probable  nature  of  the  earth's  crust  in 
this  condition. 

The  substance  most  likely  to  predominate  would 
be  silica  or  quartz,  one  of  the  lighter  and  most 
infusible  materials  of  the  crust ;  but  which,  heated 
in  contact  with  alumina,  lime,  potash,  and  other 
earths  and  alkalis,  forms  fusible  slags,  enamels  and 
glasses.  One  of  these,  composed  of  silica,  alumina, 
and  potash,  or  soda,  was  long  ago  named  by  the 
German  miners  felspar,  a  name  which  it  still  retains, 
though  now  several  distinct  kinds  of  it  are  dis- 
tinguished by  different  names.  Another  is  a 
compound  of  silica  with  magnesia  and  lime,  form- 
ing the  mineral  known  as  Amphibole  or  Horn- 
blende, and  by  several  other  names,  according  to 
its   colour  and    crystalline   form.      In    many   deep- 

6 


82 


RELICS   OF    I'UIMKVAL   LIFE 


I 


i.i 


:1! 


seated  rocks  these  minerals  are  formed  together, 
and  having  crystallized  out  separately  give  a 
spotted  and  granular  character  to  the  mass. 
Naturally  colourless,  all  these  minerals,  and  es- 
pecially the  felspar  and  hornblende,  are  liable  to 
be  coloured  with  different  oxides  of  iron,  the  felspar 
usually  taking  a  reddish,  and  the  hornblende  a 
greenish  or  blackish  hue.  Now,  if  we  examine  a 
fragment  of  the  oldest  or  fundamental  gneiss  or 
granite,  we  .shall  see  glassy  grains  of  quartz,  reddish 
or  white  flat-surfaced  crystals  of  felspar,  and  dark- 
coloured  prisms  of  hornblende.  When  destitute  of 
any  arrangement  in  layers,  the  rock  is  granite ; 
when  arranged  more  or  less  in  flakes  or  lamina.', 
it  is  gneiss,  the  structure  of  which  may  arise  either 
from  its  having  been  formed  in  successive  beds,  or 
from  its  having  been  flattened  or  drawn  out  by 
pressure.  These  structures  can  be  seen  more  or 
less  distinctly  in  any  ordinary  coarse-grained 
granite,  or  with  the  lens  or  microscope  in  finer 
varieties. 

The  Lower  Laurentian  rocks  of  our  section  con- 
sist essentially  of  the  materials  above  described, 
with  a  vast  variety  in  the  proportions  and  arrange- 
ments of  the  constituent  minerals.     There  is,  there- 


THE  FOUNDATIONS  OF  THE  CONTINENTS       83 


con- 

bed, 

'  V 

nge- 

lere- 

4 

fore,  nothing  to  prevent  us  from  supposing  that 
these  rocks  are  really  remains  of  the  lower  portions 
of  the  original  crust  which  first  formed  on  the  sur- 
face of  our  cooling  planet,  though  the  details  of 
their  consolidation  and  the  possible  interactions  of 
heat  and  heated  water  may  admit  of  much  discus- 
sion and  difference  of  opinion. 

But  after  the  formation  of  a  crust  and  its  cover- 
ing in  whole  or  in  part  with  heated  water,  other 
changes  must  occur,  in  order  to  fit  the  earth  for 
the  abode  of  life.  These  proceeded  from  the 
tensions  set  up  by  the  contraction  and  expansion 
of  the  interior  heated  nucleus  and  the  solid  crust — 
a  complicated  and  difficult  question,  when  we  con- 
sider its  laws  and  their  mode  of  operation,  but 
which  resulted  in  the  folding  and  fracturing  of  the 
crust  along  long  lines  which  are  parts  of  great 
circles  of  the  earth,  running  in  N.E.  and  S.W. 
and  N.W.  and  S.E.  directions  ;  and  these  ridges, 
which  in  the  earliest  Archtuan  period  must  have 
attained  to  great  height  and  very  rugged  outlines, 
formed  the  first  rudiments  of  our  mountain  chains 
and  continents.  Those  constituting  the  Laurentian 
nucleus  of  North  America — a  very  simply  outlined 
continent — form  a  case  in  point  (Fig.  18). 


84 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


The  elevation  of  these  mountain  ridges  forced 
the  waters  to  recede  into  the  lower  levels.  As  the 
old  psalm  of  creation  has  it, — 

"The  mountains  ascend, 
the  valleys  descend  into 
the  place  Thou  hast  founded 
for  them," 

and  so  sea-basins  and  land  were  produced. 

Milton  merely  paraphrases  this  when  he  says, — 

"The  mountains  huge  appear 
Emergent,  and  their  broad,  bare  backs  upheave 
Into  the  clouds  ;  their  tops  ascend  the  sky. 
So  high  as  heaved  the  tumid  hills,  so  low 
Down  sunk  a  hollow  bottom  wide  and  deep, 
Capacious  bed  of  waters." 

Englishmen  have  been  accused  of  taking  their 
ideas  of  creation  from  Milton  rather  than  from 
nature  or  the  Bible.  Milton  had  not  the  guidance 
of  modern  geology.  His  cosmology  is  entirely  that 
of  a  close  student  of  the  Biblical  narrative  of 
creation.  He  is  in  many  respects  the  best  commen- 
tator on  the  early  chapters  of  Genesis,  because  he 
had  a  very  clear  conception  of  the  mind  of  the 
writer,  and  the  power  of  expressing  the  ideas  he 
derived  from  the  old  record.  For  the  same  reason 
he  is  the  greatest  bard  of  creation  and  primitive 
man,  and  surprisingly  accurate  and  true  to  nature. 


i 


THE  FOUNDATIONS  OF  THE  CONTINENTS       85 


Then  began  the  great  processes  of  denudation 
and  sedimentation  to  which  we  owe  the  succeeding 
rock  formations.  The  rains  descended  on  the 
mountain  steeps,  and  washed  the  decaying  rocks 
as  sand,   gravel    and   mud   into  the   rivers   and  the 


Fig.    18. — Map  of  Laurentian,  North  America. 
Showing  the  protaxis  or  nucleus  of  the  continent. 

sea.      The  sea  itself  raged  against   the   coasts,  and 

cut   deeply   into   their    softer   parts;     and    all  the 
detritus  thus  produced  by  atmospheric  and  marine 

denudation    was    spread     out    by    the     tides  and 

currents  in  the  bed  of  the  ocean,  and  its  gulfs  and 


# 


ii 


!   I 


5 


'4 

'A 


1   ). 


86 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


seas,  forming  the  first  aqueous  deposits,  while  the 
original  land  must  have  been  correspondingly  re- 
duced. 

The  sea  might  still  be  warm,  and  it  held  in  solu- 
tion or  suspension  somewhat  different  substances 
from  those  now  present  in  it,  and  the  land  was  at 
first  a  mere  chaos  of  rocky  crags  and  pinnacles. 
But  so  soon  as  the  temperature  of  the  waters  fell 
somewhat  below  the  boiling  point,  and  as  even  a 
little  soil  formed  in  the  valleys  and  hollows  of  the 
land,  there  was  scope  for  life,  provided  that  its 
germs  could  be  introduced. 

On  a  small  scale  there  was  something  of  this 
same  kind  in  the  sea  and  land  of  Java,  after  the 
great  eruption  of  Krakatoa,  in  1883.  The  bare 
and  arid  mountain  left  after  the  eruption,  began, 
in  the  course  of  a  year,  to  be  occupied  by  low 
forms  of  vegetable  life,  gradually  followed  by  others, 
and  verdure  was  soon  restored.  The  once  thickly 
peopled  sea-bottom,  so  prolific  of  life  in  these  warm 
seas,  but  buried  under  many  feet  of  volcanic  ashes 
and  stones,  soon  began  to  be  re-peopled,  and  is  now 
probably  as  populous  as  before.  But  in  this  case 
there  were  plenty  of  spores  of  lichens,  mosses,  and 
other  humble  plants  to  be  wafted   to  the  desolate 


THE  FOUNt)ATIONS  OF  THE  CONTINkNTS       8; 


cone,  and  multitudes  of  eggs  and  free-swimming 
germs  of  hundreds  of  kinds  of  marine  animals  to 
re-people  the  sea-bottom.  Whence  were  such 
things  to  come  from  to  occupy  the  old  Archrean 
hills  and  sea-basins  ?  and  all  our  knowledge  of 
nature  gives  us  no  answer  to  the  question,  except 
that  a  creative  power  must  have  intervened  ;  but 
in  what  manner  we  know  not.  That  this  actually 
occurred,  we  can,  however,  be  assured  by  the  next 
succeeding  geological  formation.  We  have  seen 
that  the  granitic  and  gneissic  ridges  could  furnish 
pebbles,  sand,  and  clay,  and  these  once  deposited 
in  the  sea-bottom  could  be  hardened  into  con- 
glomerate, sandstone  and  slate.  But  beside  these 
we  have  in  the  next  succeeding  or  Upper  Lauren- 
tian  formation  rocks  of  a  very  different  character. 
We  have  great  beds  of  limestone  and  iron  ore,  and 
deposits,  of  carbon  or  coaly  matter,  now  in  the 
peculiar  state  of  graphite  or  plumbago,  and  it  is 
necessary  for  us  to  inquire  how  these  could 
originate  independently  of  life.  In  modern 
seas  limestone  is  forming  in  coral  reefs,  in  shell 
beds,  and  in  oceanic  chalky  ooze  composed  of 
minute  microscopic  shells  ;  but  only  in  rare  and 
exceptional    instances    is    it    formed    in    any   other 


!! 


H 


fit- 


^ 


ii      '■'' 

,     If! 


!■  Ii! 


88 


kELlCS   OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


way  ;    and  when  we  interroc^ate   the  old  limestones 


Fig.  19. — Distribution  of  Grcnviile  Limestone  in  the  district  north  of 
Papineativille,  with  section  showing  supposed  arrangement  of  the  beds. 

Scale  of  Map  7  miles  to  one  inch.     See  also  Dr.  Bonney's  paper, 
Geol.  Mag.,  July,  1895. 

Dotted  area'.  Limestone.  Horizontal  lines :  V^i^tr  gneiss  (fourth  gneiss  of 
Logan).  Vertical  lines:  Lower  gneiss  (tliird  gneiss  of  I.ogan).  Diagonal  lines'. 
Overlying  Cambrian  and  Cambro-Silurian  (Ordovician),     \i)ee  also  Fig.  19A.) 

and    marbles   which   form   parts   of   the   land,   they 


THE  FOUNDATIONS  OF  TIIK   CONTINENTS      89 


of 


'S. 


of 
tes: 


ey 


give  us  evidence  tliat  they  also  are  made  up  of 
calcareous  skeletons  of  marine  animals  or  fragments 
of  these.  Now  when  we  find  in  the  Grenvillian 
series,  the  first  oceanic  group  of  beds  known  to  us, 
great  and  widely  extended  limestones,  thousands  of 
feet  in  thickness,  and  rivalling  in  magnitude  those 
of  any  succeeding  period,  we  naturally  infer  that 
marine  life  was  at  work.  No  doubt  the  primitive  sea 
contained  more  lime  and  magnesia  than  the  present 
ocean  holds  in  solution  ;  but  while  this  might  locally 
favour  the  accumulation  of  inorganic  limestones,  it 
cannot  account  fur  so  great  and  extensive  deposits. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  sea  rich  in  lime  would  have 
afforded  the  greatest  facilities  for  the  growth  of 
those  marinef  plants  which  accumulate  lime,  and 
through  these  for  the  nutrition  of  animals  forming 
calcareous  shells  or  corals.  Thus  we  have  pre- 
sumptive evidence  that  there  must  have  been  in 
the  Upper  Laurentian  sea  something  corresponding 
to  our  coral  reefs  and  shell-beds,  whatever  this 
something  may  have  been. 

These  limestones,  ho  /ever,  demand  more  par- 
ticular notice  (Fig.  19). 

One  of  the  beds  measured  by  the  officers  of  the 
Geological    Survey   is  stated     to   be    1,500   feet    in 


I 


90 


RELICS   OF    PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


•:;.     I 


thickness,  another  is  1,250  feet  thick,  and  a  third 
750  feet ;  making  an  aggregate  of  3,500  feet.* 
These  beds  may  be  traced,  with  more  or  less  inter- 
ruption, for  hunilreds  of  miles.  Whatever  the 
origin  of  such  limestones,  it  is  plain  that  they  in- 
dicate causes  equal  in  extent,  and  comparable  in 
power  and  duration,  with  those  which  have  produced 
the  greatest  limestones  of  the  later  geological 
periods.  Now,  in  later  formations,  limestone  is 
usually  an  organic  rock,  accumulated  by  the  slow 
gathering  from  the  sea-water,  or  its  plants,  of  cal- 
careous matter,  by  corals,  foraminifera,  or  shell-fish, 
and  the  deposition  of  their  skeletons,  either  entire 
or  in  fragments  on  the  sea-bottom.  The  most 
friable  chalk  and  the  most  crystalline  limestones 
have  alike  been  formed  in  this  way.  We  know  of 
no  reason  why  it  should  be  different  in  the  Lauren- 
tian  period.  When,  therefore,  we  find  great  and 
conformable  beds  of  limestone,  such  as  those  de- 
scribed by  Sir  William  Logan  in  the  Laurentian  of 
Canada,  we  naturally  imagine  a  quiet  sea-bottom, 
in  which  multitudes  of  animals  of  humble  organi- 
zation were  accumulating  limestone  in  their  hard 
parts,   and   depositing   this   in    gradually   increasin 


*  Logan  :  *'  Geology  of  Canada,"  p.  45. 


I 


THE    KOUNM.AT,„Ns  OK  TIMC   CONT.NKNTS       g, 

thickness     from    a^e    to    a,e.       Any    attempts  Z 
account   otherwise   for   these   thick   and   g.eatly  ex- 
tended    beds,    regularly    interstratified    with     other 
<lepos,ts,  have  so  far  been   failures,  and  have  arisen 
-her  from  a  want  of  comprehension  of  the  nature 
■•"Kl  magnitude  of  the  appearances  to  be  explained 
-   from    the   error  of   mistaking   the    true    bedded' 
I'mestones  for  veins  of  calcareous  spar 


fe)  Dion  ™.';d  g1,^'™''<»'«  «'•!.  Eo.„o,, 

Again,   in    the    original    molten   world    if 
"■^ely   that    most  of    the   carbon   p"!;  ^,^1 
at    the    surface  _  was    in    th.      .  ^'"'"'■"^-'^^  'east, 
gaseous   form   of  clrbon  d'       ,         "'""'    '"   ""^ 

dissolved   by   the   rt       t^f'       ""'"   '"'•^'^'    l"^ 
oy   tne   ram   and   other   waters-    h„t 

know  in  the  modern    world   no   n  ' 


■'  i 


■i 

t 
ii 


■:'!i  I 


93 


kELlCS  OF   PKIMKVAL   LIFE 


1:1      ;;il    ! 

(1"'!    ";;i  ! 


carbon  or  coal,  except  that  of  living  plants,  which 
are  always  carrying  on  this  function  to  an  enor- 
mous extent.  We  know  that  all  our  great  beds 
of  coal  and  peaty  matter  are  composed  of  the 
remains  of  plants  which  took  their  carbon  from  the 
air  and  the  waters  in  past  times.  We  also  know 
that  this  coaly  vegetable  matter  may,  under  the 
influence  of  heat  and  pressure,  when  buried  in  the 
earth,  be  converted  into  anthracite  and  into  graphite, 
and  even  into  diamond.  It  is  true  that  an  emi- 
nent French  chemist  *  has  shown  that  graphite  and 
hydrocarbons  may  be  produced  from  some  of  the 
metallic  compounds  of  carbon  which  may  have 
been  formed  under  intense  heat  in  the  interior  of 
the  earth,  by  the  subsequent  action  of  water  on 
such  compounds  ;  but  there  is  nothing  to  show  that 
this  can  have  occurred  naturally,  unless  in  very 
exceptional  cases.  Now  in  the  Grenvillian  system 
in  Canada  there  is  not  only  a  vast  quantity  of 
carbon  diffused  through  the  limestones,  and  fillini;^ 
fissures  in  other  rocks,  into  which  it  seems  to  ha\c 
been  originally  introduced  as  liquid  bitumen,  but 
also  in  definite   beds  associated  with  earthy  matter, 

*  Henri  Moissan,  "  Proceedings  Royal  Society,"  June,  1896. 


ni     ■ 


T.IK   lOUNDATICNS  OF   THK   CONTINENTS       93 


a.>d  sometimes  ten  to  tuclve  feet  thick.  '  The 
"ccurrcce  of  this  large  amount  of  carbon  warrants 
"S  m  supposing  that  it  represents  a  vast  vegetable 
iirowth,  either  on  the  land  or  in  the  sea,  or  both 

In  hke   manner,  in   later  geological  periods,  beds 
of  .ron  ore   are  generally  accumulated  as  a   conse- 
quence of  the  solvent  action  of  acids  produced  by 
vegetable   decay,  as   in    the   clay  ironstones   of  the 
coal  formation  and  the  bog  iron  ores  of  later  times. 
Thus   the   beds   of  magnetic   iron  occurring   in  the 
Lpper  Laurentian    may  be  taken  as   evidences,  not 
of  vegetable  accumulation,  but  of  vegetable  decay 

May  not  also  the  great  quantity  of  calcium  phos- 
phate mined  in  the  Grenvillc  series  in  Canada. 
md,cate.  as  similar  accumulations  do  in  later  forma- 
t.ons,  the  presence  of  organisms  having  skeletons 
ot  bone  earth? 

With  reference   to  the   carbon   and    iron    ore   of 
the  Grenv.lle  serie.s,  I  may  quote  the  following  from 
a  paper  published  in  the  >„.«./  ,/  ,;,  ^ 
Society  of  London  in   i8;o:— 

"The  quantity  of  graphite  in  the  Upper  Lauren- 

■an   senes  ,s  enormous.     In   a   recent   visit   to   the 

townsh,p  of  Buckingham,  on   the   Ottawa  River    , 

e.^amn,ed    a   band    of  limestone    believed   to   be'  a 


'' 

"'.1 

•,:  1 

^1 

Jf' 

' 

,  n 

J 

'  '•  ,1 

'■:'i 

..i 

M 

']) 

'*■'. 

«' 

^ 


REI.ICS  OK   PKIMKVAL   \AVE 


contimiiition  of  that  described  by  Sir  W.  E.  Logan 
as  the  Green  Lake  Limestone.  It  was  estimated 
to  amount,  with  some  thin  interstratified  bands  of 
gneiss,  to  a  thickness  of  6oo  feet  or  more,  and  was 
found  to  be  filled  with  disseminated  crystals  of 
graphite  and  veins  of  the  mineral  to  such  an  extent 
as  to  constitute  in  some  places  one-fourth  of  the 
whole ;  and  making  every  allowance  for  the  poorer 
portions,  this  band  cannot  contain  in  all  a  less 
vertical  thickness  of  pure  graphite  than  from  twenty 
to  thirty  feet.  In  the  adjoining  township  of  Locha- 
ber  Sir  VV.  E.  Logan  notices  a  band  from  twenty- 
five  to  thirty  feet  thick,  reticulated  with  graphite 
veins  to  such  an  extent  as  to  be  mined  with  profit 
for  the  mineral.  At  another  place  in  the  same 
district  a  bed  of  graphite  from  ten  to  twelve  feet 
thick,  and  yielding  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  pure 
material,  is  worked.  When  it  is  considered  that 
graphite  occurs  in  similar  abundance  at  several 
other  horizons,  in  beds  of  limestone  which  have 
been  ascertained  by  Sir  W.  E.  Logan  to  have  an 
aggregate  thickness  of  3,500  feet,  it  is  scarcely  an 
exaggeration  to  maintain  that  the  quantity  of  car- 
bon in  the  Laurentian  is  equal  to  that  in  similar 
areas  of  the   Carboniferous   system.       It  is  also  to 


I 


THE   KUUNDATK^NS  OK  THE   CONTINENTS      95 


be  observed  that  an  immense  area  in  Canada 
appears  to  be  occupied  by  these  graphitic  and 
Eozoon  hmestones,  and  that  rich  j^raphitic  deposits 
exist  in  the  continuation  of  this  system  in  the  State 
of  New  York ;  while  in  rocks  believed  to  be  of 
this  age  near  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  there  is  a 
very  thick  bed  of  graphitic  Hmestone,  and  associ- 
ated with  it  three  rcguhir  beds  of  graphite,  having 
an  aggregate  thickness  of  about  five  feet.* 

"  It  may  fairly  be  assumed  that  in  the  present 
world,  and  in  those  geological  periods  with  whose 
orcranic  remains  we  are  more  familiar  than  with 
those  of  the  Laurentian,  there  is  no  other  source  of 
unoxidized  carbon  in  rocks  than  that  furnished  by 
organic  matter,  and  that  this  has  obtained  its  car- 
bon in  all  cases,  in  the  first  instance,  from  the 
deoxidation  of  carbonic  acid  by  living  plants.  No 
other  source  of  carbon  can,  I  believe,  be  imagined 
in  the  Laurentian  period.  We  may,  however,  sup- 
pose either  that  the  graphitic  matter  of  the  Lauren- 
tian has  been  accumulated  in  beds  like  those  of 
coal,  or  that  it  has  consisted  of  diffused  bituminous 


'  Matthew,   in    Quart.  Joiirn.  Geol.  Soc,  vol.  xxi.   p.  423. 
"Acadian  Geology,"  p.  662, 


96 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


1 


! 


II 


:  II 


11  ', 


matter  similar  to  that  in  more  modern  bituminous 
shales  and  bituminous  and  oil-bearing  limestones. 
The  beds  of  graphite  near  St.  John,  some  of  those 
in  the  gneiss  at  Ticonderoga  in  New  York,  and  at 
Lochaber  and  Buckingham  and  elsewhere  in  Canada, 
are  so  pure  and  regular  that  one  might  fairly  com- 
pare them  with  the  graphitic  coal  of  Rhode  Island. 
These  instances,  however,  are  exceptional,  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  disseminated  and  vein  graphite 
might  rather  be  compared  in  its  mode  of  occur- 
rence to  the  bituminous  matter  in  bituminous  shales 
and  limestones. 

"  We  may  compare  the  disseminated  graphite  to 
that  which  we  find  in  those  districts  of  Canada  in 
which  Silurian  and  Devonian  bituminous  shales  and 
limestones  have  been  metamorphosed  and  converted 
into  graphitic  rocks  not  dissimilar  to  those  in  the 
less  altered  portions  of  the  Laurentian.^  In  like 
manner  it  seems  [)robable  that  the  numerous  reticu- 
lating veins  of  graphite  may  have  been  formed  by 
the  segregation  of  bituminous  matter  into  fissures 
and   planes   of  least    resistance,   in   the   manner    in 


*  Granby,     Melbourne,    Owl's     Head,    etc.,    "Geology    of 
Canada,"  1863,  p.  599. 


THE  FOUNDATIONS  OF  THE  CONTINENTS      9/ 


IS 

n 


which  such  veins  occur  in  modern  bituminous  lime- 
stones and  shales.  Such  bituminous  veins  occur 
in  the  Lower  Carboniferous  limestone  and  shale  of 
Dorchester  and  Hillsborough,  New  Brunswick,  with 
an  arrangement  very  similar  to  that  of  the  veins 
of  graphite ;  and  in  the  Quebec  rocks  of  Point 
Levi,  veins  attaining  to  a  thickness  of  more  than  a 
foot  are  filled  with  a  coaly  matter  having  a  trans- 
verse columnar  structure,  and  regarded  by  Logan 
and  Hunt  as  an  altered  bitumen.  These  Palaeozoic 
analogies  would  lead  us  to  infer  that  the  larger 
part  of  the  Laurentian  graphite  falls  under  the 
second  class  of  deposits  above  mentioned,  and  that, 
if  of  vegetable  origin,  the  organic  matter  must  have 
been  thoroughly  disintegrated  and  bituminized  be- 
fore it  was  changed  into  graphite.  This  would  also 
give  a  probability  that  the  vegetation  implied  was 
aquatic,  or  at  least  that  it  was  accumulated  under 
water, 

"  Dr.  Hunt  has,  however,  observed  an  indication 
of  terrestrial  vegetation,  or  at  least  of  subaerial  decay, 
in  the  great  beds  of  Laurentian  iron  ore.  These, 
if  formed  in  the  same  manner  as  more  modern 
deposits  of  this  kind,  would  imply  the  reducing 
and  solvent  action   of    substances   produced   in   the 

7 


98 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


decay  of  plants.  In  this  case  such  great  ore  beds 
as  that  of  Hull,  on  the  Ottawa,  70  feet  thick, 
or  that  near  Newborough,  200  feet  thick, ^  must 
represent  a  corresponding  quantity  of  vegetable 
matter  which  has  totally  disappeared.  It  may  be 
added  that  similar  demands  on  vegetable  matter 
as  a  deoxidizing  agent  are  made  by  the  beds  and 
veins  of  metallic  sulphides  of  the  Laurentian,  though 
some  of  the  latter  are  no  doubt  of  later  date  than 
the  Laurentian  rocks  themselves. 

"  It  would  be  very  desirable  to  confirm  such  con- 
clusions as  those  above  deduced  by  the  evidence  of 
actual  microscopic  structure.  It  is  to  be  observed, 
however,  that  when,  in  more  modern  sediments, 
algae  have  been  converted  into  bituminous  matter, 
we  cannot  ordinarily  obtain  any  structural  evidence 
of  the  origin  of  such  bitumen,  and  in  the  graphitic 
slates  and  limestones  derived  from  the  metamor- 
phosis of  such  rocks  no  organic  structure  remains. 
It  is  true  that,  in  certain  bituminous  shales  and 
limestones  of  the  Silurian  system,  shreds  of  organic 
tissue  can  sometimes  be  detected,  and  in  some 
cases,   as  in   the   Lower    Silurian   limestone  of  the 


*  "  Geology  of  Canada,"  1863. 


THE   FOUNDATIONS  OF   THE  CONTINENTS      99 


con- 
e  of 
ved, 
nts, 
tter, 
nee 
itic 
or- 
ins. 
and 
nic 
me 
the 


i 


La  Cloche  mountains  in  Canada,  the  pores  of 
brachiopodous  shells  and  the  cells  of  corals  have 
been  penetrated  by  black  bituminous  matter,  form- 
in  i^  what  may  be  regarded  as  natural  injections, 
sometimes  of  much  beauty.  In  correspondence  with 
this,  while  in  some  Laurentian  graphitic  rocks, — as, 
for  instance,  in  the  compact  graphite  of  Clarendon, — 
the  carbon  presents  a  curdled  appearance  due  to 
segregation,  and  precisely  similar  to  that  of  the 
bitumen  in  more  modern  bituminous  rocks,  I  can 
detect  in  the  graphitic  limestones  occasional  fibrous 
structures  which  may  be  remains  of  plants,  and  in 
some  specimens  vermicular  lines,  which  I  believe  to 
be  tubes  of  Eozoon  penetrated  by  matter  once 
bituminous,  but  now  in  the  state  of  graphite. 

"  When  Paktozoic  land-plants  have  been  con- 
verted into  graphite,  they  sometimes  perfectly  retain 
their  structure.  Mineral  charcoal,  with  structure, 
exists  in  the  graphitic  coal  of  Rhode  Island.  The 
fronds  of  ferns,  with  their  minutest  veins  perfect, 
are  preserved  in  the  Devonian  shales  of  St.  John, 
in  the  state  of  graphite ;  and  in  the  same  formation 
there  are  trunks  of  Conifers  {Dadoxylon  ouangon- 
dianuni)  in  which  the  material  of  the  cell-walls  has 
been   converted   into    graphite,   while   their   cavities 


lOO 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


:; 


<  i 


)i    I," 
SI    rl 


have  been  filled  with  calcareous  spar  and  quartz, 
the  finest  structures  being  preserved  quite  as  well 
as  in  comparatively  unaltered  specimens  from  the 
coal-formation.^  No  structures  so  perfect  have  as 
yet  been  detected  in  the  Laurentian,  though  in  the 
largest  of  the  three  graphitic  beds  at  St.  John 
there  appear  to  be  fibrous  structures  which  I  be- 
lieve may  indicate  the  existence  of  land-plants. 
This  graphite  is  composed  of  contorted  and  slicken- 
sided  laminae,  much  like  those  of  some  bituminous 
shales  and  coarse  coals ;  and  in  these  there  are 
occasional  small  pyritous  masses  which  show  hollow 
carbonaceous  fibres,  in  some  cases  presenting  ob- 
scure indications  of  lateral  pores.  I  regard  these 
indications,  however,  as  uncertain ;  and  it  is  not  as 
yet  fully  ascertained  that  these  beds  at  St.  John 
are  on  the  same  geological  horizon  with  the  Gren- 
ville  series  of  Canada,  though  they  certainly  under- 
lie the  Cambrian  series  of  tlie  St.  John  or  Acadian 
group,  and  are  separated  from  it  by  beds  having  the 
character  of  the  Huronian,  and  thus  come,  approxi- 
mately at  least,  into  the  same  geological  position. 

*  "Acadian  Geology,"  p.  535.  In  calcified  specimens  the 
structures  remain  in  the  graphite  after  decalcification  by  an 
acid. 


THE  FOUNDATIONS   OF  THE  CONTINENTS     lo, 


(T 
fc> 


"There   is  thus   no    absohite    impossibility    that 
cl.st,nct  organic   tissues  may  be  found  in  the  Lau- 
rent,an   graphite,  if  formed    from   land-plants,  more 
especially  if  any  plants  existed  at  that  time  havin- 
true  woody  or  vascular  tissues  ;  but  it  cannot  with 
certainty  be   affirmed   that   such   tissues   have   been 
found.      It   is   possible,   however,  that   in   the   Lau- 
rent,an  period  the  vegetation  of  the  land  may  have 
consisted  wholly  of  cellular  plants,  as,  for  example 
mosses  and  lichens ;  and  if  so,  there  would  be  com- 
paratively little  hope  of  the  distinct  preservation  of 
their  forms  or  tissues,  or  of  our  being  able  to  dis- 
tmguish   the  remains   of  land-plants   from   those  of 
Alg^     The  only  apparent  plant  of  the  Laurentian 
to  which  a  name   has  been    given,  ^..te„^^_,„,„  ^f 
Bntton,   from    New  Jersey,   consists    of   ribbon-like 
stnps,  destitute  of  apparent  structure,  and  which  if 
they  are  of  vegetable  origin,  may  have  belonged  to 
either  of  the  leading  divisions  of  the  vegetable  king- 
oom.     I  have  found  similar  flat  frond-like  objects  in 
the  limestone  of  the  Grcnville  series,  at  Lachute.  in 
Canada. 

"We  may  sum  up  these  facts  and  considerations 
in  the  following  statements  :_First,  that  somewhat 
obscure  traces  of  organic  structure  can  be  detected 


II 


I  f' 

I 


I 


[ 


i  ^1 


^  I  it 
il 


n 


■\i- 


ft  '-I 


■J 


J.I 


"if 
n 


102 


RLLICS   UF   I'KIMEVAL   LIFE 


in  the  Laurentian  graphite ;  secondly,  that  the 
j^cncral  arran'^ement  and  microscopic  structure  of 
the  substance  corresponds  with  that  of  the  carbon- 
aceous and  bituminous  matters  in  marine  formations 
of  more  modern  date  ;  thirdly,  that  if  the  Laurentian 
graphite  has  been  derived  from  vegetable  matter, 
it  has  only  undergone  a  metamorphosis  similar  in 
kind  to  that  which  organic  matter  in  metamorphosed 
sediment  of  later  age  has  experienced  ;  fourthly, 
that  the  association  of  the  graphitic  matter  with 
organic  limestone,  beds  of  iron  ore,  and  metallic 
sulphides,  greatly  strengthens  the  probability  of  its 
vegetable  origin  ;  fifthly,  that  when  we  consider 
the  immense  thickness  and  extent  of  the  Eozoonal 
and  graphitic  limestones  and  iron  ore  deposits  of 
the  Laurentian,  if  we  admit  the  organic  origin  of 
the  limestone  and  graphite,  we  must  be  prepared 
to  believe  that  the  life  of  that  early  period,  though 
it  may  have  existed  under  low  forms,  was  most 
copiously  developed,  and  that  it  equalled,  perhajjs 
surpassed,  in  its  results,  in  the  way  of  geological 
accumulation,  that  of  any  subsequent  period." 

Let  us  take,  in  connection  with  all  this,  the  fact 
that  we  are  dealing  with  the  deposits  of  the  earliest 
OvCan  known  to  us — an  ocean  warm  and  abounding 


.f 


THE  FOUNDATIONS   OK  THE  CONTINENTS     ,03 


m  the  n-„neral  matters  suitable  for  the  skeleton,  of 
humble  animals,  and  fitted  to  nourish  aquatic  plant. 
The  conditions  were  certainly  favourable  to  an  exu 
berant  development  of  the    lower  forms  of  marine 


clined  and  undisturbed.  ^  "**   ^^'"e    beds  may  be  seen  slightly  in- 

life;  and  in  later  times,  when  such  conditions  pre- 
va,l,  we  generally  find  that  life  has  been  introduced 
to  take  advantage  of  then,.  The  prudent  farmer 
does  not  usually  allow  his  best   pasture  to  ren.ain 


1)1    i.i 

i 
|i 


I;     i^ 


11         If 

!    ■!! 


104 


RELICS   OF  PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


untenanted  with  flocks  and  herds,  and  the  Great 
Husbandman  of  nature  has,  so  far  as  we  know,  been 
similarly  careful. 

I  add  two  sections  showing  the  local  disturbances 
of  beds  of  quartzite  and  schist  associated  with  the 
Grenville  limestones  (Figs.  20  and  21,  page  103). 


!i 


I 


en 

OS 


PROBABILITIES  AS  TO  LAURENTIAN  LIFE,  AND 
CONDITIONS  OF  ITS  PRESERVATION 


106 


«' 


i 


I  .'ill 

i  i 


'    t'lil        1,! 


'1    !;l 


PROBABIUrrES  AS  TO  LAURENT, AN  LIFE,  AND 
CONDITIONS  OF  ITS  PRESEKVATION 

W^  have  seen  that  the  mineral  constitution  of 
the  Upper  Laurentian  affords  evi<ience  that 

m  th,s  age  there  were  already  land  and  water,  and 
that  the  processes  by  which  the  land  is  beinj;  ,v„rn 
down,  and  its  materials  deposited  on  the  sea-bottom 
were   in  full   operation  ;   while  the  absence   of  any 
evidence  of  violent  wave-action,  and  the  presence  of 
thick  deposits  of  limestone,  coaly  matter,  iron  ore 
and  fine-grained  beds  of  sediment,  indicates  a  time' 
of  rest   and  quiescence.     All  these  conditions  were 
favourable   to   the   presence   of  life,  and  we   should 
expect   to  find   in   such  a  period  some  sign   of  its 
commencement. 

But  here  we  are  met  by  a  formidable  difficulty 
If  the  beds  of  the  Grenville  series  were  originally 
<lepos,ts  in  a  quiet  sea,  they  are,  as  now  existing  in 
the  old  Laurentian  hills  and  valleys,  very  much 
changed  from  their  original  condition.     They  have, 


io8 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


I   f*!- 


1:1: 


in  short,  experienced  the  chanjjes  known  to  geologists 
by  the  formidable  word  metamorijhism,  whereby  they 
have  lost  the  more  obvious  characters  of  ordinary 
aqueous  deposits,  and  have  assumed  new  and  strange 
forms.  Dr.  Adams,  of  Montreal,  has  taken  the  pains 
to  collect  a  number  of  chemical  analyses  of  the 
gneisses  and  schists  or  crystalline  slates  of  the 
Grenville  series,  and  finds  that,  however  unlike  to 
more  modern  shales  and  clays,  they  have  sub:5tan- 
tially  the  same  chemical  composition.  Now  if  they 
were  originally  such  shales  and  clays,  it  has  happened 
to  them  that  the  ingredients  of  the  clays  have 
rearranged  themselves  in  new  forms  and  become 
crystalline.  We  are  familiar  in  a  small  way  with 
such  changes  when  brick  clay,  over-heated  in  the 
kiln,  becomes  fused  into  slag  or  vitrified ;  and  if 
such  slag  were  allowed  to  cool  very  slowly,  it  would 
present  different  kinds  of  crystalline  minerals.  We 
actually  see  changes  of  this  kind  in  the  substance 
of  bricks  which  have  been  long  exposed  to  intense 
heat  in  the  walls  of  furnaces.  Now  in  the  crust 
of  the  earth,  very  old  rocks,  buried  under  newer 
deposits,  and  exposed  to  the  heat  of  the  interior 
molten  rocks,  experience  such  changes  on  a  great 
scale  ;  and  there  is  one  kind  of  influence  present  in 


i  I 


LAUKENTIAN    LIFE 


109 


the  bowels  of  the  eiirth  which  we  in  our  experi- 
ments cannot  easily  imitate  or  understand,  namely, 
the  action  of  superheated  water  prevented  by  pres- 
sure from  escaping  as  steam,  and  permeating  the 
whole  substance  of  deposits,  which  are  thus  baked 
at  a  high  temperature  in  presence  of  water,  instead 
of  being  exposed  to  mere  dry  heat,  as  in  our  kilns 
and  furnaces.  The  study  of  the  partial  changes 
which  have  passed  on  later  sediments  where  in 
contact  with  volcanic  masses  once  intensely  heated, 
enables  us  to  understand  the  greater  and  more  ex- 
tensive metamorphism  of  the  oldest  rocks.  Thus  a 
mere  mud  becomes  glorified  by  metamorphic  cry- 
stallization into  a  micaceous  schist.  We  have  taken 
ordinary  clay  as  an  example ;  but  under  the  same 
processes  sand  has  been  converted  into  a  compact 
quartzite,  ordinary  limestone  into  crystalline  marble, 
clay-ironstone  into  magnetic  iron  ore,  coal  into 
graphite,  and  lavas  or  volcanic  ashes  into  hard 
crystalline  granites,  gneisses,  or  pyroxene  rocks  or 
hornblendic  schists,  according  to  their  original  com- 
position. There  may  exist  portions  of  these  old 
rocks  which  ha-^e  been  exempt  from  such  alteration, 
but  hitherto  wj  have  not  been  able  to  find  them, 
and    they   are    probably   under   the   ocean    bed,   or 


I 

V 


'^  I 


no 


RELICS   OK    rUIMKVAL   LIFE 


iri 


deeply  burled  bcnc.ith  later  rocks,  while  the  parts 
exposed  are  precisely  those  which  have  by  their 
crumpling  and  pressure,  and  the  influence  of  internal 
heat,  become  most  hardened  and  altered,  and  have 
therefore  best  resisted  denudation.  We  need  not 
therefore  be  astonished  if  any  organic  remains  ori- 
ginally present  in  imch  rocks  should  have  perished, 
or  should  have  been  subjected  to  such  changes  of 
composition  and  form  as  to  have  altogether  lost 
their  original  characters.  The  searcher  for  fossils 
in  such  rocks  has  to  expect  that  these  can  have 
been  preserved  only  under  very  rare  and  excep- 
tional circumstances.  We  have  now  to  consider 
what  these  circumstances  are,  and  for  simplicity 
may  suppose  that  we  are  endeavouring  to  discover 
in  a  crystalline  limestone  the  remains  of  animals 
having  a  skeleton  of  limestone,  as  is  the  case  with 
most  shell-fishes  and  corals,  and  with  many  Protozoa 
and  marine  worms.  In  regard  to  these,  we  have  to 
consider  what  may  happen  to  them  when  Ihey  are 
imbedded  in  calcareous  marl  or  ooze,  or  the  limestone 
which  results  from  the  hardening  of  such  materials  ; 
and  we  have  to  bear  in  uvnd  that  such  organisms 
usually  consist  of  hard,  stony  walls  or  partitions,  en- 
closing cavities  originally  filled  with  the  soft  parts 


LAURKNTIAN    LIFE 


I  I  I 


of  the  animal  which  may  be  supposed  to  have  dis- 
appeared by  decay  before  or  during  the  mineraliza- 
tion of  its  skeleton. 

So  long  as  the  imbedding  mass  continues  soft 
and  incoherent,  shells,  corals,  etc.,  can  be  recovered 
in  a  condition  similar  to  that  of  recent  specimens, 
except  that  they  may  have  become  bleached  in  colour 
and  brittle  in  texture,  owing  to  the  removal  of  organic 
matter  intimately  associated  with  the  lime,  and  that 
their  cavities  may  have  been  filled  with  sand  or  silt 
washed  into  them,  or  with  calcite  or  calcareous  spar 
introduced  in  solution  in  water.  But  if  the  contain- 
ing mass  has  become  a  hard  stone,  the  material 
filling  the  interior  of  our  shell  or  coral  has  exi)e- 
rienced  a  similar  change  ;  and  when  we  break  open 
the  stone,  we  may  obtain  the  specimen,  now  hard, 
solid,  and  heavy,  but  still  showing  more  or  less 
of  its  outer  surface  and  markings,  and  possiljjy  in 
some  extent  also  its  internal  structure  when  it  is 
sliced  and  studied  under  the  microscope.  Ikit  if  the 
whole  mass  has  been  metamorphosed,  and  has  be- 
come crystalline,  the  contained  fossil  and  its  contents 
may  have  experienced  a  similar  change,  and  may 
have  so  coalesced  with  the  containing  matrix  that  it 
is  no  longer  separable  from  it.      Even  in  this   case, 


112 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


however,  if  the  whole  is  reduced  to  a  thin  transparent 
sHce  and  examined  microscopically,  some  traces  may 
be  found  of  the  external  and  internal  limiting  lines  of 
the  fossil,  and  even  of  its  minute  structures,  which 
often  cause  it   to  present   an   appearance  granular, 


Fig.  22. — Section  of  ^*  Trenton  Limestone'^  {tnagnified). 
Showing  Us  composition  of  fragments  of  calcareous  fossils. 

cellular,  or  otherwise  different  from  that  of  the  en- 
closing matrix.  It  requires,  however,  both  skill  and 
care  to  detect  organic  remains  in  such  circumstances, 
and  they  may  often  escape  observation,  except  when, 
as  in  many  old  crystalline  limestones,  the  fossils  are 
darkened    in   whole  or   in   part  with  coaly   matter 


I 


I 


nt 

of 
:h 
r, 


■■%■ 


LAURENTIAN    LIFE 


H3 


derived  from  the  decay  of  their  own  organic 
substance.  The  crystalline  Trenton  limestone  of 
Montreal,  used  there  as  a  building  stone,  is  an  excel- 
lent example  (Fig.  22). 

It  is  otherwise,  however,  when  the  calcareous  fossils 
have  been  filled  or  injected  with  some  mineral 
matter  different  from  the  matrix,  as,  for  example, 
silica   or  some    silicate,  oxide  or  sulphide   of  iron. 


i%T!Tt   » 


6 


«  <  n  >  I 


iiriiJ 


•♦Ml 
If  •»  I 
••••I 


t  <  1 1 » • 


ii»«f»i; 


•»<«« 


Fig.  23.~£>ta^am  of  different  States  of  Fossilizalion  of  the  Cell  of  a 

Tubulate  Coral. 

^"^  S'"^ii^°:S"ii..S  "^^'i^^^  ^'-^T^Y ^^T'  «"•"-  ^='-- 

conditions  are  found  in  the  fosJil  coLhnf,hf^  ''"r'^  ''^'",'?  '"''*=^-      A"  '^ese 
-Middle  Permian.  °^  '^^  corniferous  Limestone  of  Canada 

In  this  case  the  texture,  colour,  or  hardness  of  the 
filling  appear  different  from  those  of  the  limestone, 
and  may  be  seen  in  a  fresh  fracture  or  polished 
slice ;  or  when  the  rock  is  weathered,  the  hard  mine- 
ralizing substance  may  project  from  the  surface  of 
the  specimens,  or  may  be  disclosed  by  treating  the 
surface  with  a  weak  acid.  The  figures  here  given 
may  suffice   to   show   some  of   these   conditions   of 

8 


Hi 


ill 

'VIM 


!  Ji 


!  I' 


■ 


114 


RELICS   OK    I'kl.MKVAL    LIFE 


mineralization  in  ordinary  limestones,  and  the  effects 
which  they  produce  (Fig.  23). 

The  mineral  matters  which  thus  aid  in  preserving 
fossils  are  of  various  kinds,  and  the  whole  subject  is  a 
very  curious  one  ;  but  for  the  present  we  may  content 
ourselves  with  two  kinds  of  mineralization — that  by 
silicates  and  that  by  magnesian  limestone  or  dolomite. 

From  the  bottom  of  modern  seas  the  dredge  often 
brings  up  multitudes  of  minute  shells,  especially 
those  of  the  simple  gelatinous  Protozoa,  known  as 
Foraminifera,  whose  internal  cavities  and  pores  have 
been  filled  with  a  greenish  mineral  composed  of  silica, 
iron  and  potash,  combined  with  water  (or,  chemically 
speaking,  a  hydrous  silicate  of  iron  and  potassium), 
which  is  named  glauconite  from  its  bluish-green 
colour — a  name  which  we  shall  do  well  to  remember. 
In  such  compounds,  bases  of  similar  chemical  pro- 
perties often  replace  one  another,  so  that  various 
glauconites  differ  somewhat  in  composition,  the  iron 
being  in  part  often  replaced  by  alumina  or  magnesia, 
and  the  potash  by  soda.  The  combined  water  also 
differs  somewhat  in  its  percentage.  When  minute 
shells  fossilized  in  this  way  are  treated  with  an  acid 
so  as  to  remove  the  calcareous  shell  itself,  the  en- 
closed silicate  remains  as  a   beautiful  cast  or  core. 


I 


» 


LAUKENTIAN    LIFE 


115 


I 


f. 


i 


representing  all  the  forms  of  the  interior,  and  any 
pores  that  may  have  penetrated  the  walls,  and  also 
perfectly  representing  the  soft  gelatinous  body  of 
the  animal  which  once  tenanted  the  shells  (Fig.  24). 
(See  also  Fig.  25  at  end  of  chapter.) 


Fig.  24. — C'ojV  0/  Cavities  of  rolystomelia  tn  Uniuiouuc  \inagnified). 
After  a  photograph  from  Dr.  Carpenter,  and  mounted  specimens  from  his  collection. 

When  we  examine  oceanic  sediments  of  older 
date,  we  find  similar  fillings  in  limestones,  chalks, 
and  sandstones  of  various  ages,  some  of  the  latter 
containing  glauconite  so  abundantly  as  to  bear  the 
name  of  greensands,  from  their  colour ;  and  in 
these  older  examples  we  more  frequently  find  alu- 


I  ,'i 


I  ,  ' 


■t  1 


^! 


i^. 


ii6 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


mina  and  magnesia  occupying  a  large  place  in  the 
mineralizing  silicate.  Fig.  24A  gives  two  illustrations 
of  this — one  a  crinoidal  stem  from  the  Silurian  of 
New  Brunswick,  injected  with  a  silicate  of  alumina, 


b>*  *-«w»,.-  jt  *SultL' ■  •'    '  "•"•"••►•isC 
«••,**.-..     ■*^'lKli^/l'>    .I'^h't^ifl 

r-i  ^* '"  *  - .  r;  wriwrr ....  ■  /  -■•■  •:  j'/afl 


«■  «.>^.t  -.rj 


m 


n4f  «•  «•■••-.., 


lit,'.  -J " 

;.:..s-:;-.; 'iff' JW;-.  ■:;.?: 

,■'1  ••.  .'V.  -.r  ._ 


«'  r  -  ';  1 " 


i 


Fig.  24A. — ((?)  yi^/w/   <?/■  Crinoid  injected  with   a   Hydrous  Silicate, 

Silurian,  Fole  Hill,  Neiv  Brunsivick.  (X    25.) 

ip)  Spiral  Shell  injected  with  a  Hyds'otis  Silicate  allied  to  Serpentine, 

near  Llangwyllog,  North  Wales,  (x   25.) 

iron,  magnesia  and  potash ;  the  other  a  spiral  shell 
from  more  ancient  perhaps  Cambrian  rocks  in 
Wales,  filled  with  a  silicate  apparently  more  nearly 
related  to  serpentine.  Further  examples  will  be  re- 
ferred to  in  an  appended  note. 


n 
4 

\ 


i! 


LAURENTIAN   LIFE 


"7 


We  may  now  consider  shortly  the  relation  of 
dolomite,  or  the  mixed  carbonates  of  lime  and  mag- 
nesia, to  the  preservation  of  fossils.  The  presence 
of  dolomite  or  magnesian  limestone  in  these  beds 
does  not  affect  the  conclusion  as  to  their  probable 
organic  origin.  This  form  of  limestone  occurs  abun- 
dantly in  later  formations,  and  is  even  forming  in 
connection  with  coral  deposits  in  the  modern  ocean. 

Dana  has  shown  this  by  his  observations  on  the 
occurrence  of  dolomite  in  the  elevated  coral  island 
of  Matea  in  Polynesia,^  under  circumstances  which 
show  that  it  was  formed  in  the  lagoon  of  an  ancient 
coral  atoll,  or  ring-shaped  island,  while  he  finds 
that  coral  and  coral  sands  of  the  same  elevated  reef 
contain  very  little  magnesia.  He  concludes  that 
the  introduction  of  magnesia  into  the  consolidating 
under-water  coral  sand  or  mud  has  apparently  taken 
place — "(i)  In  sea-water  at  the  ordinary  tempera- 
ture; and  (2)  without  the  agency  of  any  other 
mineral  water  except  that  of  the  ocean " ;  but  the 
sand  and  mud  were  those  of  a  lagoon  in  which  the 
saline  matter  was  in  process  of  concentration  by 
evaporation    under    the    solar  heat.      Klement   has 

*  "  Corals  and  Coral  Islands,"  p.  356,  etc. 


Ill 


^1  HI! 


ii8 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


\^\ 


'ii; 


more  recently  taken  up  this  fact  in  the  way  of 
experiment,  and  finds  that,  while  in  the  case  of 
ordinary  calcite  this  action  is  slow  and  imperfect, 
with  the  aragonitc  which  constitutes  the  calcareous 
framework  of  certain  corals,*  and  at  temperatures  of 
60""  or  over,  it  is  very  rapid  and  complete,  producing 
a  mixture  of  calcium  and  magnesium  carbonates, 
from  which  a  pure  dolomite  more  or  less  mixed 
with  calcite  may  subsequently  result.^ 

I  regard  these  observations  as  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance in  reference  to  the  relations  of  dolomite 
with  fossiliferous  limestones,  and  especially  with  those 
of  the  Grenville  series.  The  waters  of  the  Lauren- 
tian  ocean  must  have  been  much  richer  in  salts  of 
magnesium  than  those  of  the  present  seas,  and  the 
temperature  was  probably  higher,  so  that  chemical 
changes  now  proceeding  in  limited  lagoons  might 
have  occurred  over  much  larger  areas.      If  at  that 


k 


n 


S' 


li^ 


*  Aragonite,  like  ordinary  limestone,  is  calcium  carbonate,  but 
its  atoms  seem  to  be  differently  arranged,  so  as  to  make  it  a 
less  stable  compound,  and  it  has  a  different  crystalline  form. 
Some  calcareous  organisms  are  composed  of  aragonite,  others 
of  ordinary  calcite. 

*  "Bulletin  Geol.  Soc.  Belgium,"  vol.  ix.  (1895,  p.  3).  Also 
notice  in  GeoL  Mag.^  July,  1895,  p.  329. 


ti'L 


l! 


i 


Laurentian  life 


119 


time  there  were,  as  in  later  periods,  calcareous  or- 
ganisms composed  of  aragonite,  these  may  have 
been  destroyed  by  conversion  into  dolomite,  while 
others  more  resisting  were  preserved,  just  as  a 
modern  Polytrema  or  Balanus  might  remain,  when 
a  coral  to  which  it  might  be  attached  would  be 
dolomitized,  or  might  even  be  removed  altogether 
by  sea-water  containing  carbonic  acid.  There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  this  last  change  sometimes 
takes  place  in  the  deeper  parts  of  the  ocean  at 
present.  This  would  account  for  the  persistence 
of  Eozoon  and  its  fragments,  when  other  organisms 
may  have  perished,  and  also  for  the  frequent  filling 
of  the  canals  and  tubuli  with  the  magnesian  carbo- 
nate. 

The  main  point  here,  however,  for  our  present 
purpose  is  that,  when  a  calcareous  shell  or  skeleton 
has  been  thus  infiltrated  with  a  silicate,  it  becomes 
imperishable,  so  that  any  amount  of  alteration  of 
the  containing  limestone  short  of  its  absolute  fusion 
would  not  suffice  to  destroy  an  organism  once  in- 
jected with  silicious  matter.  Thus  the  occasional 
persistence  of  silicified  fossils  in  highly  metamor- 
phosed limestones  is  in  no  respect  contradictory  to 
the  general    fact,  that  when  not    preserved  by  sili- 


I20 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


-:r-i  I 


V  . 


cr 


cious  infiltration,  they  have  perished,  and  this  more 
especially  in  the  case  of  those  whose  skeletons  are 
composed  of  aragonite. 

Carrying  these  facts  with  us,  the  next  question 
is,  What  manner  of  fossil  remains  should  we  expect 
to  find  in  the  Upper  Laurentian  rocks,  supposing  that 
any  such  are  therein  preserved?  The  answer  to 
this  question  follows  at  once  from  the  facts  as  to 
the  succession  of  life  noticed  above.  Only  the  marine 
invertebrates  have  been  traced  as  far  back  as  the 
oldest  Cambrian,  and  only  Worms,  Sponges,  and 
Protozoa  into  the  Huronian.  We  shojld  therefore 
have  no  expectation  of  finding  remains  of  any  ver- 
tebrate animals  or  of  any  of  the  land  invertebrates  ; 
and  even  allowing  for  the  more  favourable  condi- 
tions, as  compared  with  the  Huronian,  evidenced  by 
the  great  limestones  and  the  abundant  carbon,  we 
could  scarcely  expect  anything  higher  than  some 
of  the  lower  types  of  invertebrate  life,  such  as  Worms, 
Hydroids,  Corals  and  Protozoa.  We  have  next  to 
inquire  what  forms,  possibly  organic,  have  actually 
been  found,  and  what  information  we  can  derive 
from  them  as  to  the  beginnings  of  life.  Since,  how- 
ever, such  discoveries  as  have  been  made  have  been 
the  result  of  much  labour  and  scientific  skill  brought 


II 


* 


LAUKENTIAN   LIKE 


i2i 


to  bear  on  these  old  rocks,  and  are  connected  with 
the  reputations  of  several  eminent  men,  now  de- 
ceased, we  may  first  refer  shortly  to  the  history 
of  the  discovery  of  supposed  fossils  in  the  Lauren- 
tian  rocks  of  Canada. 


|o 


Fk;.  25. — Nature-print  of  an  eUJied  Spicimen  of  Eozoon. 

Showing  the  lamina:,  a  part  of  the  natural  margin,  near  which  passes  a  diagonal 
caicite  vein,  and  at  the  upper  right-hand  corner,  fragniental  material  with  casts  of 
Archaeospherinae.  The  dark  lines  represent  the  chambers  filled  with  serpentine,  the 
white  the  caicite  wall. 


f 


[ '    I 


I 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A   DISCOVERY 


ISS 


11 


i 


■111,  I  ■  i 


I 


'^>  'ill 


VI 

THE   HISTORY   OF  A    DISCOVERY 

YyHEN    Mr.    Logan,    afterwards    Sir    William 
Logan,   entered  on   the  Geological    Survey 
of  Canada,  in   1840,  he  found  that  vast  and  little- 
explored  regions  in  the  northern  part  of  that  country 
were   occupied   with    gneissic   rocks,   similar   to   the 
oldest   gneisses   of    Scotland   and    Scandinavia,  and 
to    which    the    name    Azoic    had    been    given    by 
Murchison,  as  rocks  destitute  of  fossils,  while  they 
had   been   the   "fundamental   granite"  or  ur-gneiss 
of  most  European   geologists.     They  were  unques- 
tionably below   and    more   ancient   than   the   oldest 
fossiliferous    Cambrian   rocks    both   in    Europe   and 
North   America,   and   geologists    had    for  the   most 
part  contented  themselves  with   regarding  them  as 
primitive  rocks,  destitute  of  any  geological  interest, 
much    as    some   United    States    geologists    of   the' 
present    day   call    them    the    "  Arch^an   complex," 
a  name  which  the   late   Prof  Dana   has   well    cha- 
racterized as  a  "  term  of  despair." 

125 


126 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


'i ' 


M  1 


'H 


Logan  was,  however,  a  man  not  to  be  daunted  by 
an  unsolved  problem,  even  though  the  facts  for  its 
solution  must  be  sought  in  a  wilderness  known  to  few 
except  adventurous  trappers,  hunters,  and  lumber- 
men ;  and  he  soon  learned  that  this  ancient  gneissic 
formation  contained  other  rocks  beside  gneiss,  more 
especially  thick  and  extensive  limestones,  and  that 
its  beds  seemed  to  have  a  definite  arrangement,  and 
could  be  traced  over  great  areas.  He  addressed 
himself,  therefore,  to  the  problem  of  unravelling  the 
tangled  "  complex,"  and  with  a  few  hardy  assistants, 
spent  years  in  laboriously  tracing  its  beds  along 
river  courses  and  over  mountains,  and  in  mapping, 
in  a  manner  never  previously  attempted,  its  several 
members,  designating  at  the  same  time  the  whole  by 
the  term  "  Laurentian,"  because  it  constituted  the 
mass  of  the  hills  lying  north  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
called  by  old  French  geographers  the  Laurentides, 
and  separating  the  St.  Lawrence  Valley  and  the 
region  of  the  great  lakes  from  Hudson's  Bay  and  the 
Arctic  Sea.  In  this  manner  he  laid  a  foundation, 
which  still  remains  unshaken,  for  the  geology  of  the 
oldest  rocks,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  discovery 
of  the  forms  afterward  named  Eozoon  Canadense. 
At  the  same  time  Dr.  Sterry  Hunt,  the  chemist  of 


M 


li 


THE   HISTORY  OF  A  DISCOVERY 


127 


the   Survey,   was  examining    chemically   the    rocks 
and  minerals  collected,  and  all  Sir  William's  assist- 
ants  were   instructed   to  search,  more  especially  in 
the   limestones,  for  anything  bearing  the  aspect  of 
fossils.     On  the  other  hand,   Dr.  Carpenter  was  in- 
dependently  pursuing    his    studies    of   the  humbler 
inhabitants  of  the  modern  ocean,  and  of  the  manner 
in   which   the   pores   of  their  skeletons   became  in- 
filtrated with  mineral   matter,  and  had  kindly  con- 
tributed specimens  to  the  collections  of  the  writer 
in   Canada.     The    discovery   of   this    most    ancient 
fossil  was  thus  not  the  chance  picking  up  of  a  rare 
and    curious   specimen,    but    the    result    of   several 
combined  lines  of  laborious  and  skilful  research. 

The  following  notice  of  the  persons  and  incidents 
connected  with  its  discovery  is  taken  from  a  pre- 
vious publication  of  the  writer,  with  only  a  little 
alteration  in  terms  to  suit  it  to  the  present  date. 

The  first  specimens  of  Eozoon  ever  procured,  in 
so  far  as  known,  were  collected  at  Burgess,  in 
Ontario,  by  a  veteran  Canadian  mineralogist,  Dr 
Wilson  of  Perth,  and  were  sent  to  Sir  William 
Logan  as  mineral  specimens.  Their  chief  interest 
at  that  time  lay  in  the  fact  that  certain  lamina. 
of  a  dark  green  mineral  present  in  the  specimens 


128 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


it'll 


were  found,  on  analysis  by  Dr.  Hunt,  to  be  com- 
posed of  a  new  hydrous  silicate,  allied  to  serpentine, 
and  which  he  named  loganite,  but  which  seems  to 
be  a  mixture  of  different  silicates.  The  form  of  this 
mineral  was  not  suspected  to  be  of  organic  origin. 
Some  years  after,  in  1858,  other  specimens,  differ- 
ently mineralized  with  the  minerals  serpentine  and 
pyroxene,  were  found  by  Mr.  J.  McMullen,  an 
explorer  in  the  service  of  the  Geological  Survey, 
in  the  limestone  of  the  Grand  Calumet  on  the 
river  Ottawa.  These  seem  to  have  at  once  struck 
Sir  W.  E.  Logan  as  resembling  the  Silurian  fossils 
known  as  Stromaioporce^  or  layer-corals,  and  at  that 
time  of  quite  uncertain  nature,  though  supposed 
to  be  allied  to  some  kinds  of  modern  corals.  He 
showed  them  to  Mr.  Billings,  the  palaeontologist  of 
the  Survey,  and  to  the  writer,  with  this  suggestion, 
confirming  it  with  the  sagacious  consideration  that 
inasmuch  as  the  Ottawa  and  Burgess  specimens 
weie  mineralized  by  different  substances,  yet  were 
alike  in  form,  there  was  little  probability  that  they 
were  merely  mineral  or  concretionary.  Mr.  Billings 
was  naturally  unwilling  to  risk  his  reputation  in 
affirming  the  organic  nature  of  such  specimens ; 
and   my  own   suggestion   was   that  they  should   be 


iiii 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  DISCOVERY  129 


sliced,  and   examined   microscopically;   and   that  if 
fossils,  as  they  presented  merely  concentric  lamina 
and    no    cells,  they  would    probably  prove    to   be 
protozoa    rather    than    corals.      A   few  slices   were 
accordingly   made,  but   no  definite  structure  could 
be  detected.     Nevertheless,  Sir  William  Logan  took 
some  of  the  specimens  to  the  meeting  of  the  Ameri- 
can Association  at  Springfield,  in  1859,  and  exhibited 
them   as   possibly   Laurentian    fossils;    but   the  an- 
nouncement was  evidently  received   with   some  in- 
credulity.     In    1862    they    were    exhibited    by   Sir 
William  to  some  geological  friends  in   London,  but 
he  remarks  that  "  few  seemed  disposed  to  believe  in 
their   organic   character,  with  the  exception  of  my 
friend  Professor  Ramsay."     In  1863  the  Geneial  Re- 
port of  the  Geological  Survey,  summing  up  its  work 
to  that  time,  was  published,  under  the  name  of  the 
"  Geology  of  Canada,"  and  in  this,  at  page  49,  will  be 
found  two  figures  of  one  of  the  Calumet  specimens, 
here  reproduced,  and  which,  though  unaccompanied 
with  any  specific  name  or  technical  description,  were 
referred  to  as  probably  Laurentian  fossils  (Figs.  26 
and  27). 

About  this  time  Dr,  Hunt  happened  to  mention  to 
me,  in  connection  with  a  paper  on  the  mineralization 

9 


• 


.1   '-. 


Fig.  26. —  Weathered  specimen  of  Eozoon  from  the  Grand  Calumet. 
(Collected  by  Mr.  McMullen.) 


Fig.  .■27. — Cross  Section  of  the  Specimen  represented  in  Fig.  26. 

The  d^rk  parts  are  the  lapiiiiae  of  calcareous  matter  converging  to  the  outer  surface. 


180 


THE   IlISTOKV  01-  A   DISCOVERV 


•3' 


of  fos,s,Ts  which  he  was  preparing,  that  he  proposed 
to  not,ce  the  mode  of  preservation  of  certain  fossil 
woods  and  other  things  with  which  I  was  familiar 
and  that  he  would  show  me  the  paper  in  proof,  in 
order    that    he    might    have   any   suggestions    that 
occurr«]  to  me.     On  reading  it,  I  observed,  among 
other  thmgs,  that  he  alluded  to  the  supposed  Lau- 
rent,an  fossils,  under  the  impression  that  the  organic 
part  was  represented  by  the  serpentine  or  loganite 
and  that  the  calcareous  matter  was  the  fillin.  of  the' 
chambers.      I   took   e.xception    to   this,  stating   that 
though  in  the  slices   before  e.xamined   no  structure 
was  apparent,  still  my  impression  was  that  the  cal- 
careous matter  was  the  fossil,  and  the  serpentine  or 
'"»-n,te  the  filling.     He  said  :  "  In  that  ca.se.  would 
.t  not  be  well  to  re-e.xamine  the  .specimens,  and  to  try 
to  d,scover  which  view  is  correct.."     He  mentioned 
at   the   same   time   that   Sir   William   had    recently 
shown  him  some  new  and  beautiful   specimens  col- 
lated by  Mr.  Lowe,  one  of  the  e.xplorers  on  the  staff 
of  the  Survey,  from  a  third  locality,  at  Grenville,  on 
he  Ottawa      It  was  supposed  that  these  might  throw 
rther   l.ght  on   the  subject ;    and  accordingly  Dr 
Hunt  suggested   to  Sir  William  to  have  additional" 
shces  of  these  new  specimens  made  by  Mr.  Weston 


i 


132 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


m 


of  the  Survey,  whose  skill  as  a  preparer  of  these  and 
other  fossils  has  often  clone  good  service  to  science. 
A  few  days  thereafter,  some  slices  were  sent  to  me, 
and  were  at  once  put  under  the  microscope.  I  was 
delighted  to  find  in  one  of  the  first  specimens  ex- 
amined, which  happened  to  be  cut  parallel  to  the 
laminae,  a  beautiful  group  of  tubuli  penetrating  one  of 
the  calcite  layers.  Here  was  evidence,  not  only  that 
the  calcite  layers  represented  the  true  skeleton  of  the 
fossil,  but  also  of  its  affinities  with  the  Foraminifera, 
whose  tubulated  supplemental  skeleton,  as  described 
and  figured  by  Dr.  Carpenter,  and  represented  in 
specimens  in  my  collection  presented  by  him,  was 
evidently  of  the  same  type  with  that  preserved  in  the 
canals  of  these  ancient  fossils.  Fig.  28  is  an  accurate 
representation  of  the  first  seen  group  of  canals  pene- 
trated by  serpentine. 

On  showing  the  structures  discovered  to  Sir 
William  Logan,  he  entered  into  the  matter  with 
enthusiasm,  and  had  a  great  number  of  slices  and 
afterwards  of  decalcified  specimens  prepared,  which 
were  placed  in  my  hands  for  examination. 

Feeling  that  the  discovery  was  most  important, 
but  that  it  would  be  met  with  determined  scepti- 
cism on  the  part  both  of  geologists  and  biologists, 


! 


THE   HISTORY  OF  A  DISCOVERY 


ns 


I    was    not    content    with    examining    the    tvpical 
specimens   of    Eozoon.   but   had  slices   prepared   of 


"'^^^Zl':::'.!:'/''  ^^--^  ^^^^  ^^-«. 


from  the  specimen  in  which  they  were  first 


recognised.    (Magnified.) 


^^?(M!^33'^"' 


Fig.  29._Ca«a/.  ^y  Eozom,  from  samespecimm. 
(Highly  magnified.) 

eveo'  variety  of   Laurentian  limestone,  of   altered 
Lmestones  from  the  Cambrian  and  Silurian,  and  of 


i 


'I  I 


J34 


RELICS   OF   TKIMEVAL   LIFE 


serpentine  marbles  of  all  the  varieties  furnished 
by  our  collections.  These  were  examined  with 
ordinary  and  polarized  light,  and  with  every  variety 
of  illumination.  Dr.  Hunt,  on  his  part,  undertook 
the  chemical  investigation  of  the  various  associated 
minerals.  An  extensive  series  of  notes  and  camera 
tracings  were  made  of  all  the  appearances  observed  ; 
and  of  some  of  the  more  important  structures 
beautiful  drawings  were  executed  by  the  late  Mr. 
H.  S.  Smith,  the  then  paheontological  draughtsman 
of  the  Survey.  The  result  of  the  whole  investigation 
was  a  firm  conviction  that  the  structure  was  organic 
and  probably  foraminiferal,  and  that  it  could  be 
distinguished  from  any  merely  mineral  or  crystalline 
forms  occurring  in  these  or  other  limestones. 

At  this  stage  of  the  matter,  and  after  exhibiting 
to  Sir  William  all  the  characteristic  appearances 
in  comparison  with  such  concretionary,  dendritic, 
and  crystalline  structures  as  most  resembled  them, 
and  also  with  the  structure  of  recent  and  fossil 
Foraminifera,  I  suggested  that  the  further  prosecu- 
tion of  the  matter  should  be  handed  over  to  Mr. 
Billings,  as  palaeontologist  of  the  Survey,  and  as 
our  highest  authority  on  the  fossils  of  the  older 
rocks.      I   was    engaged    in    other    researches,   and 


Fio.  20.~ Casts  of  Canals  of  Eozoon,  in  Sc-pewine. 

iJc.  aialiod  and  l.i;;|||y  magnified. 


Fig.  31.-  Group  of  fittest  TubiiH. 

Highly  magnified,  from  a  micro-photograph. 


135 


THE   HISTORY   OF  A   DISCOVERY  137 


knew  that  no  little  labour  must  be  devoted  to  the 
work   and   to   its    publication,   and    that   some   con- 
troversy mi^ht  be  expected.     Mr.  J3illings,  however, 
with    his    characteristic    caution    and    modesty,   de- 
clined.    His  hands,  he  said,  were  full  of  other  work, 
and   he   had    not   specially  studied   the   microscopic 
appearances    of    Foraminifera    or    of    mineral    sub- 
stances.     It   was    finally    arranged    that    I    should 
prepare    a     description    of    the     fossil,    which     Sir 
William    would    take    to    London,   along   with    Dr. 
Hunt's   notes,   the   more   important   specimens,   and 
lists  of  the  structures  observed  in  each.     Sir  William 
was   to   submit   the   manuscript    and    specimens    to 
Dr.    Carpenter,  and    also  to  Prof  T.   Rupert  Jones, 
in   the   hope   that   these   eminent   authorities  would 
confirm    our    conclusions,    and    bring   forward   new 
facts   which    I    might  have   overlooked   or   been  ig- 
norant of.      Sir  William  saw   both    gentlemen,  who 
gave  their  testimony  in  favour  of  the  organic  and 
foraminiferal    character   of  the   specimens  ;   and  Dr. 
Carpenter  in   particular  gave  much  attention  to  the 
subject,  and  worked  out  the  structure  of  the  delicate 
tubulation  of  the  surfaces  of  the  laminae  or  cell-walls, 
which    I    had  not   distinguished  previously,  through 
a   curious    accident    as    to    specimens.      Mr.    Lowe 


l! 


138 


RELICS   OF    PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


had  been  sent  back  to  the  Ottawa  to  explore,  and 
just  before  Sir  William's  departure  had  sent  in 
some  specimens  from  a  new  locality  at  Petite 
Nation,  similar  in  general  appearance  to  those 
from  Grenville,  which  Sir  William  took  with  him 
unsliced  to  England.  These  showed  in  a  perfect 
manner  the  tubuli  of  the  primary  cell-wall,  which 
I  had  in  vain  tried  to  resolve  in  the  Grenville 
specimens,  and  which  I  did  not  see  until  after  they 
had  been  detected  by  Dr.  Carpenter  in  London. 
Dr.  Carpenter  thus  contributed  in  a  very  important 
manner  to  the  perfecting  of  the  investigations  begun 
in  Canada,  and  on  him  fell  the  greater  part  of 
their  illustration  and  defence,^  in  so  far  as  Great 
Britain  is  concerned. 

The  immediate  result  was  a  composite  paper  in 
the  Proceedings  of  the  Geological  Society,  by  Sir 
W.  E.  Logan,  Dr.  Carpenter,  Dr.  Hunt,  and  myself, 
in  which  the  geology,  pakeontology,  and  mineralogy 
of  Eozoon  Canadense  and  its  containing  rocks  were 
first   given   to   the  world.^     It   cannot   be  wondered 

*  In  papers  by  Dr.  Carpenter,  subsequently  referred  to. 
Prof.  Jones  published  an  able  exposition  of  the  facts  in  the 
Popular  Science  Monthly. 

"  In  Quarterly  Journal  of  Geological  Society^  vol.  xxii. ;  Proc. 


THE   HISTORY   OF   A   DISCOVERY 


139 


re 


le 


at  that  when  geologists  and  pal?eontologists  were 
thus  required  to  believe  in  the  existence  of  organic 
remains  in  rocks  regarded  as  altogether  Azoic  and 
hopelessly  barren  of  fossils,  and  to  carry  back  the 
dawn  of  life  as  far  before  those  Cambrian  rocks, 
which  were  supposed  to  contain  its  first  traces,  as 
these  are  before  the  middle  period  of  the  earth's 
life-history,  some  hesitation  should  be  felt.  Further, 
the  accurate  appreciation  of  the  evidence  for  such 
a  fossil  as  Eozoon  required  an  amount  of  know- 
ledge of  minerals,  of  the  more  humble  types  of 
animals,  and  of  the  conditions  of  mineralization  of 
organic  remains,  possessed  by  few  even  of  pro- 
fessional geologists.  Thus  Eozoon  has  met  with 
some  negative  scepticism  and  positive  opposition 
— though  the  latter  has  been  smaller  in  amount 
than  might  have  been  anticipated,  when  we  con- 
sider the  novel  and  startling  character  of  the  facts 
adduced.  The  most  annoying  element  in  the  dis- 
cussion has  consisted  in  the  liability  of  observers, 
only  partially  informed,  to  confound  our  specimens 

Royal  Society.,  vol.  xv.  ;  Intellectual  Observer.,   1865  ;  Annals 
and  Magazine  of  Natural  History.,   1874;   ^i^d   other   papers 
and  notices. 
^  Journal  Geological  Society,  February,  1865. 


'I 


III 


140 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


with  things  of  very  different  character,  from  which 
we  had  taken  pains  to  distinguish  them. 

"The  united  thickness,"  says  Sir  William  Logan, 
"  of  these  three  great  series,  the  Lower  and  Upper 
Laurentian  and  Huronian,  may  possibly  far  surpass 
.nat  of  all  succeeding  rocks,  from  the  base  of  the 
Palaeozoic  to  the  present  time.  We  are  thus  carried 
back  to  a  period  so  far  remote  that  the  appearance 
of  the  so-called  Primordial  fauna  may  be  considered 
a  comparatively  modern  event."  So  greeit  a  revolu- 
tion of  thought,  and  this  based  on  one  fossil,  of  a 
character  little  recognisable  by  geologists  generally, 
might  well  tax  the  faith  of  a  class  of  men  usually 
regarded  as  somewhat  faithless  and  sceptical.  Yet 
this  new  extension  of  life  has  been  very  generally 
received,  and  has  found  its  way  into  text-books  and 
popular  treatises.  Its  opponents  have  been  under 
the  necessity  of  inventing  the  most  strange  and 
incredible  pseudomorphoses  of  mineral  substances 
to  account  for  the  facts.  As  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, after  the  publication  of  the  original  paper, 
other  facts  developed  themselves.  Mr.  Vennor 
found  other  and  scarcely  altered  specimens  closely 
allied  to  the  Laurentian  forms  in  the  Hastings  series 
of  Tudor,  probably  of  Huronian  age.     Giimbel   re- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  DISCOVERY 


141 


cognised  the  organism  in  Laurentian  rocks  in  Ba- 
varia and  elsewhere  in  Europe,  and  discovered  a  new 
species  in  the  Huronian  of  Bavaria.^  Eozoon  was 
recognised  in  Laurentian  limestones  in  Massachu- 
setts ^  and  New  York,  and  there  has.  been  a  rapid 
growth  of  new  facts  increasing  our  knowledge  of 
Foraminifera  and  other  humble  animals  in  the  suc- 
ceeding Eozoic  and  Palaeozoic  rocks.  Special  interest 
attaches  to  the  discovery  by  Mr.  Vennor,  and  by 
Walcott  and  Matthew,  to  be  mentioned  in  the  sequel, 
and  tending  to  bridge  over  the  interval  between  the 
Laurentian  fossil  and  those  of  the  Lower  Cambrian. 
Another  fact,  whose  significance  is  not  to  be  over-esti- 
mated, is  the  recognition  both  by  Dr.  Carpenter  and 
myself  of  specimens  in  which  the  canals  are  occupied 
by  dolomite  or  by  calcite  like  that  of  the  organism 
itself.  I  have  made  several  visits  to  the  locality  at 
Petite  Nation  originally  discovered  by  Mr.  Lowe,  in 


*  Ueber  das  Vorkommen  von  Eozoon,  1866. 

'  By  Mr.  Bicknell  at  Newbury,  and  Mr.  Burbank  at  Chelms- 
ford. The  latter  gentleman  has  since  maintained  that  the 
limestones  at  the  latter  place  are  not  true  beds  ;  but  his  own 
descriptions  and  figures  lead  to  the  belief  that  this  is  an 
error  of  observation  on  his  part.  The  Eozoon  in  the  Chelms- 
ford specimens  and  in  those  of  Warren,  New  York,  is  in  small 
and  rare  fragments  in  serpentinous  limestone. 


iir 


I 


ill 


142 


RELICS   OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


company  with  Dr.  Carj)cnter,  Dr.  Bonney,^  and  other 
skilled  observers,  and  have  very  carefully  studied  all 
the  facts  with  reference  to  the  mode  of  occurrence 
of  the  forms  in  the  beds,  and  their  association  with 
layers  of  fragmental  Eozoon,  and  have  found  that 
these  are  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  theory  that 
these  old  Laurentian  limestones  are  truly  marine 
deposits,  holding  the  remains  of  the  sea  animals  of 
their  time. 

Eozoon  is  not,  however,  the  only  witness  to  the 
great  fact  of  Laurentian  life,  of  which  it  is  the  most 
conspicuous  exponent.  In  many  of  the  Laurentian 
limestones,  mixed  with  innumerable  fragments  of 
Eozoon,  there  are  other  fragments  with  traces  of 
organic  structure  of  a  different  character.  There  are 
also  casts  in  silicious  matter  which  seem  to  indicate 
smaller  species  of  Foraminifera ;  and  large  laminated 
forms,  apparently  organic,  yet  distinct  from  l^^ozoon. 
Some  of  these  must  be  noticed  in  the  following 
pages. 

Other  discoveries  also  are  foreshadowed  here. 
The  microscope  may  yet  detect  the  true  nature  and 


*  See  an  excellent   account  of  one  of  these  visits  by  Dr. 
Bonney,  Geological  Magazine^  1895. 


TilE   HISTORY   OK  A   DISCOVEKV 


Hi 


affinities  of  some   of  the  fragments  associated  with 
Kozoon.     Less  altered   portions   of   the    Laurentian 
rocts    may    be    found,    where    even    the    vegetable 
matter   may   retain    its    organic    forms,   and   where 
fossils  may  be  recognised  by  their  external  outlines 
as  well   as   by  their  internal   structure.     Thus    the 
time  may  come  when  the  rocks  now  called  Primordial 
■shall  not  be  held  to  be  so  in  any  strict  sense,  and 
when  swarming  dynasties  of  Protozoa  and  other  low 
forms  of  life  may  be  known  as  inhabitants  of  oceans 
vastly    ancient    as    compared    with    even    the    old 
Primordial    seas.     Who    knows    whether    even    the 
land  of   the   Laurentian   time   may  not  have    been 
clothed  with  plants,  perhaps  as  much  more  strange 
and  weird  than  those  of  the  Devonian  and  Carbom'- 
ferous,  as  those  of  the  latter  are  when  compared  with 
modern  forests  ? 


i! 


THE  DAWN  OF  LIFE 


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VII 

TIfE  DA  WN  OF  LIFE 

T  N  the  Grenvillian  system,  as  represented   in  the 
vicinity  of  the  Ottawa  River,  perfect  specimens 
of   Eozoon  are  found  in  one  only  of   the  principal 
limestones  there  exposed,  and   in   certain   layers   of 
that     limestone,     and     they     are     associated     with 
concretions    and    grains    of    the    greenish    mineral 
serpentine,  which,  as  we  shall  see,  has  much  to  do 
with    their    preservation.     As    exposed    on    broken 
surfaces,  the  specimens  consist  of  concentric  layers 
of  greenish  serpentine  and  white  calcite,  not,  however, 
even  or  uniform,  as  in  ordinary  concretions  having 
concentric    structure,    but    often    approaching    and 
uniting  with  each   other,  so  as   to   constitute   wide 
flat  chambers,  and  forming  patches  from  an  inch  to 
nearly  a  foot  in  diameter,  while  some  of  the  larger 
patches  seem  to   coalesce  or  to   become   confluent. 
On  weathered  surfaces  the  serpentine  laminae  often 
become   brown,   owing   to   the   rusting  of   the   iron 
contained  in  them,  and    project   above   the  general 

147 


148 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


M\  I 


surface,  in  this  case  resembling  very  much  the 
appearance  of  the  layer-corals  so  plentiful  in  some 
limestones  of  later  date. 

The  external  forms  of  Eozoon  are  at  first  sight 
not  very  obvious,  as  they  adhere  very  closely  to  the 
containing  rock ;  but  the  smaller  specimens,  when 
entirely  weathered  out  or  disengaged  by  the  solution 
of  the  limestone  in  an  acid,  usually  present  the  form 
of  a  broad  inverted  cone,  like  some  modern  sponges 
or  the  broader  turbinate  fossil  corals  (Fig.  32).  The 
limestone  having,  like  the  other  beds  of  the  forma- 
tion, been  much  compressed  and  folded,  the  speci- 
mens of  Eozoon  are  sometimes  crumpled  in  these 
folds  or  broken  across  by  small  cracks  or  faults,  which 
shilt  the  laminae  slightly  out  of  their  places.  The 
cracks  thus  formed  are  also  sometimes  filled  with  a 
fibrous  variety  of  serpentine,  known  to  mineralogists 
as  chrysotile  and  popularly  as  "rock  cotton"  or 
"asbestus."  It  is  finely  fibrous,  and  of  a  silky 
lustre,  and  must  have  been  deposited  by  water  in 
the  cracks  and  fissures  formed  by  the  fracturing  of 
the  rock  and  the  contained  fossils,  by  movements 
taking  place  after  the  whole  was  hardened.  Accord- 
ingly these  veins  often  cross  not  only  the  rock,  but 
also  the  serpentine  and  calcite  layers  of  the  contained 


ri 


i 

! 

li 
1 

1 

] 

THE   DAWN   OK   LIFE  151 


masses  of  Eozoon,  without  rc-.ird  to  the  direction  of 

I  their  lamin.-e,  though  sometimes  they  run  parallel  to 

the  structure,  the  rock  having  broken  more  easily  in 
that  direction. 

Bearing  in  mind  these  general  points  of  material 
form  and  appearance,  we  may  now  proceed  to  in- 
quire as  to  the  following  points:  (i)  The  structures 
visible  hi  the  specimens  ,-  (2)  The  manner  in  which 
they  are  represented  by  different  mineral  substances, 
and  hoiv  these  are  to  be  accounted  for ;  (3)  The  ex- 
planation of  the  zvhole  on  the  supposition  that  we  are 
dealing  with  an  animal  fossil. 

(I)  In   regard   to   the   first   of  these   questions,    I 
may  quote  here,  with  some  slight  alteration,  from  a 

recent  memoir  of  my  own  :  * 

In  recent  years  I  have  been  disposed  to  attach 
more  importance  than  formerly  to  the  general  form 
of  Eozoon.  The  earlier  examples  studied  were,  for 
the  most  part,  imbedded  in  the  limestone  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  ^xv^  little  definite  information  as  to 
external  form  ;  and  at  a  later  date,  when  Sir  William 
Logan  employed  one  of  his  assistants,  Mr.  Lowe,  to 
quarry   large   specimens  at  Grenville  and   Cote   St. 


*  London  Geological  Magazine^  1895. 


15^ 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


Pierre,  the  attempt  was  made  to  secure  the  most 
massive  blocks  possible,  in  order  to  provide  large 
slabs  for  showy  museum  specimens.  More  recently, 
when  collections  have  been  made  k{m\  the  eroded 
and  crumbling-  surfaces  of  the  limestone  in  its  wider 


Fig.  33. —  WcalhcrCii  ski  jure  of  EorAhm. 
Showing  section^  of  two  funnels  or  tubes  with  limiting  walls,  Cflte  St.  Pievre. 

exposures,  it  was  found  that  specimens  of  moderate 
size  had  been  weathered  out,  and  could,  either 
naturally  or  by  treatment  with  acid,  be  entirely 
separated  from  the  matrix.  Such  specimens  some- 
times showed,  either  on  the  surfaces  or  on  the  sides 


THE   DAWN    ^>K   LIFE 


153 


of  "  funnels  "  and  tubes  penetrating  the  mass  (Figs.  33, 
34),  a  confluence  of  the  lamin;e,  constituting  a  porous 
cortex  or  limiting  structure.  Specimens  of  this  kind 
were  figured  in  1888,  and  I  was  enabled  to  add  to  the 


Fig.   34.  -Section  of  the  Ihue,  of  a  spciiinen  of  Eozoon. 

This  specimen  sliovvs  an  osculiforin,  cylindrical  funnel,  cut  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  sliow  its  reticulated  7tuilt  ami  the  dcsceTit  of  the  l.iniina;  luwanl  it.  Two-thirds 
of  natural  size.     From  a  phi)U)^ra|ih.     Col.  ('ai|ii'nter,  also  iir  Rcdpath  Museum. 

[This  illustration  (from  Prof,  i'rcstwicli's  "  (lecjo^jy,"  vol.  ii.  p.  ai)  has  been 
courteously  lent  by  the  Clarendon  Press,  Oxford,] 


characters  of  the  species  that  the  original  and  proper 
form  was  "  broadly  turbinate  with  a  depression  or 
cavity  above,  and  occasionally  with  oscula  or  pits 
penetrating  the  mass."  The  great  flattened  masses 
thus   seemed   to   rei)resent   confluent    or    overgrown 


154 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


S 


tm  m 


individuals,  often  contorted  by  the  folding  of  the 
enclosing  beds. 

There  are  also  in  well-preserved  specimens  cer- 
tain constant  properties  of  the  calcite  and  ser- 
pentine layers.  The  former  are  continuous,  and 
connected  at  intervals,  so  that  if  the  silicious  filling 
of  the  chambers  could  be  removed,  the  calcareous 
portion  would  form  a  continuous  skeleton,  while 
the  serpentine  filling  the  chambers,  when  the  cal- 
careous plates  are  dissolved  out  by  an  acid,  forms 
a  continuous  cast  of  the  animal  matter  filling  the 
chambers  (Fig.  36).  This  cast  of  the  sarcodous 
material,  when  thus  separated,  is  very  uniformly  and 
beautifully  mammillated  on  the  surfaces  of  the 
laminae,  and  this  tuberculation  gradually  passes  up- 
ward into  smaller  chambers  having  amoeboid  out- 
lines, and  finally  into  rounded  chamberlets.  It  is 
also  a  very  constant  point  of  structure  that  the  lower 
laminae  of  calcite  are  thicker  than  those  above, 
and  have  the  canal-systems  larger  and  coarser. 
,  There  is  thus  in  the  more  perfect  specimens  a 
definite  plan  of  macroscopical  structure  (Fig.  35). 

The  normal  mode  of  mineralization  at  C6te 
St.  Pierre  and  Grenville  is  that  the  laminae  of  the 
test    remain    as    calcite,   while    the    chambers    and 


F'G.  l^,.— Structure  of  small  specimen  of  Eozoon,  calcareous  matter 

removed. 

_  t,  Natural  size,  2.  Acervuline  cells  of  upper  part.  3.  Group  of  the  same  coalesc- 
ing into  a  lamina  with  tuberculated  surface.  4.  Laminaj  with  tuberculated  surfaces 
in  section,    (bee  also  tig.  36.) 


166 


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r,i!   ,i 


THE   DAWN   OF   LIFE 


137 


lari^er  canals  arc  filled  with  serpentine  of  a  liijht 
L^reen  or  olive  colour,  and  the  finer  tubuli  are  in- 
jected   with    dolomite.     It    may   also    be    observed 


Fig.  36. — Decalcified  Eozoon,  in  section,  slii^hlly  enlarged. 
Showing  the  character  of  the  sarcodous  laminae  now  replaced  by  Serpentine. 


that  the  serpentine  in  the  larger  cavities  often 
shows  a  banded  structure,  as  if  it  had  been  de- 
posited in  successive  coats,  and  the  canals  are 
sometimes  lined   with   a  tubular  film   of  serpentine, 


' 


M 


158 


kELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


with  a  core  or  axis  of  dolomite,  which  also  ex- 
tends into  the  finer  tubuli  ot  the  surfaces  of  the 
lamincTE.  This,  on  the  theory  of  animal  origin,  is 
the  most  perfect  state  of  preservation,  and  it  equals 
anything  I  have  seen  in  calcareous  organisms  of 
later  periods.  This  state  of  perfection  is,  however, 
naturally  of  infrequent  occurrence.     The  finer  tubuli 


:|!  n 


■'I  '^^'i 


Fig.  37. — Finest  Tubuli  filled  with  Dolomite  {magnified). 


ii  1; 


:ifil       ll 


are  rarely  perfect  or  fully  infiltrated.  Even  the  / 
coarser  canals  are  not  infrequently  imperfect,  while 
the  lamina?  themselves  are  sometimes  crumpled, 
crushed,  faulted,  or  penetrated  with  veins  of  chry- 
sotile  or  of  calcite.  In  some  instances  the  cal- 
careous lamince  are  replaced  by  dolomite,  in  which 
case  the  canal-systems  are  always  imperfect  or 
obsolete.     The  laminae  of  the  test  itself  are  also  in 


THE   DAWN   OF   LIFE 


159 


some  cases  replaced  by  serpentine  in  a  flocculent 
form.  At  the  opposite  extreme  are  specimens,  or 
I^ortions  of  specimens,  in  which  the  chambers  are 
obliterated  by  pressure,  or  occupied  only  with 
calcite.  In  such  cases  the  general  structure  is 
entirely  lost  to  view,  and  scarcely  appears  in 
weathering.      It  can    be    detected    only    by    micro- 


FiG.  z%.—Plan  of  arrangement  of  Canals  in  Lamina  of  Eozoon. 

scopic  examination  of  slices,  in  parts  where  the 
granular  structure  or  the  tubulation  of  the  calcite 
layers  has  been  preserved.  All  palaeontologists 
who  have  studied  silicified  fossils  in  the  older 
rocks  are  familiar  with  such  appearances. 

It  has  been  alleged  by  Mobius  and  others  that 
the  canal-systems  and  tubes  present  no  organic 
regularity.  This  difficulty,  however,  arises  Tolely 
from  imperfect  specimens  or  inattention  to  the 
necessary  results   of  slicing  any  system  of  ramify- 


I- 


fi ' 


i6o 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


ing  canals.  In  Eozoon  the  canals  form  ramifying 
groups  in  the  middle  planes  of  the  lamina,  and 
proceed  at  first  almost  horizontally,  dividing  into 
smaller  branches,  which  ultimately  give  off  brushes 
of  minute  tubuli  running  nearly  at  right  angles  to  the 
surfaces  of  the  lamina,  and  forming  the  extremely 
fine    tubulation    which    Dr.    Carpenter   regarded    as 


O 


o   o  a    *^ 
^0  o  o 

J^o  o  ^  o  c^ 

boo       o 

O  r>  o    r\  Q     . 


Fig.  39. — Cross  section  of  minute   Tubuli,  about  ^  microms.   in 

diameter  {magnijied). 

the  proper  wall  (Figs.  38,  39).  In  my  earlier  de- 
scription I  did  not  distinguish  this  from  the  canal- 
system,  with  which  its  tubuli  are  inwardly  con- 
tinuous. Dr.  Carpenter,  however,  understood  this 
arrangement,  and  has  represented  it  in  his  figures  ^ 
(see  also  Fig.  28).  It  is  evident  that  in  a  struc- 
ture like  this  a  transverse  or  oblique  section  will 
show  truncated  portions  of  the  larger  tubes  appar- 

*  "Ann.  and  Mag.  Nat.  Hist,,"  ser.  4,  xiii.,  p.  456,  figs.  3,  4. 


i 


THE  DAWN  OF  LIFE 


I6l 


ently  intermixed   with   others   much  finer  and   not 
continuous   with   them,   except   very   rarely.      Good 
specimens    and    many   slices    and    decalcified    por- 
tions  are  necessary  to  understand  the  arrangement 
Th.s    consideration    alone,    I    think,  entirely  invali- 
<lates    the    criticisms   of    Mobius,   and    renders    his 
large  and  costly  figures  of  little  value,  though  his 
memoir  is,  as    I   have  elsewhere  shown,  liable    to 
other  and  fatal  objections.' 

It  has   been   pretended   that    the  veins   of  chry- 
sotile,    when    parallel    to    the    lamina,    cannot    be 
distinguished    from    the  minute    tubuli   terminating 
on   the  surfaces   of   the   laminae.     I   feel    confident 
however,  that  no  microscopist  who  has  seen   both' 
under  proper  conditions  of  preservation  and  study' 
could  confound   them.     The  fibres  of  chrysotile  are' 
closely  appressed   parallel   prisms,  with   the  optical 
properties  of  serpentine.    The  best  preserved  speci- 
mens  of  the  "proper  wall"  contain   no  serpentine, 
but  are  composed  of  calcite  with  extremely  minute' 
parallel    cylinders    of   dolomite    about   five    to   ten 
microms.    in    diameter,    and    separated    by    spaces 
greater  than  their  own  diameter  (Figs.  40,  41).     In 


1    « 


Museum  Memoir,"  pp.  50  ei  uq. 


II 


i 


u 


162 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


the  rare  cases  where  the  cyh'nders  are  filled  with 
serpentine,  they  are,  of  course,  still  more  distinct 
and  beautiful.  At  the  same  time,  I  do  not  doubt 
that  observers  who  have   not  seen   the  true  tubu- 


Fig.  40. — C;ow  seciicn   of  similar  TubuH  to  those  in  Fig.  39,  w^r^ 

highly  magnified^  and  showini^  granular  character  of  the  test, 

(From  camera  tracings.) 


Fig.  41. — Comparison  of  Tubulate   Wall  and  Prisms  of  Chrysotile  in 

perspective. 

lation  may  have  been  misled  by  chrysotile  veins 
when  these  fringe  the  laminae.  Mobius,  for  instance, 
figures  the  true  and  false  structure  as  if  they  were 
the  same. 

Protest  should  here  be  made  against  that  mode 


e. 


/. 


r-'^> 


Canals  of  Eozoon.     (After  Mobius.)       Finer  Canals  of  Eozoon.     (After  Mbbius.) 


Canals  of  modern  Calcarina. 
(After  Carpenter.) 


Canals  and    Tubule   of   Tertiary 
Nummulina,     (After  Miibiiis.) 


Fig.  42. 


Figures  selected  from  MObius,  to  show  the  resemblance  of  structures  of  Eozoon  to  those  of  modern 

Foramhiifera. 


168 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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THE   DAWN   OF   LIFE 


165 


Of  treating  ancient  fossils  which  regards  the  most 
obscure  or  defaced  specimens  as  typical,  and  those 
better  preserved  as  mere  accidents,  of  mineral 
structure.  In  Tertiary  Nummulites  injected  with 
glauconite  it  is  rare  to  find  the  tubuli  perfectly 
filled,  except  in  tufts  here  and  there ;  yet  no  one 
doubts  that  these  patches  represent  a  continuous 
structure. 

I  have   remarked  on  previous  occasions  that   the 
calnite    constituting  the    lamin.-e   of    Eozoon    often 
has   a  minutely  granular  appearance,  different  from 
that   of  the  surrounding   limestone.     Under  a  hi-h 
power  it  resolves  itself  into  extremely  minute  d^ts 
or   flocculi,  somewhat   uniformly  diffused.     Whether 
these  dots  are  particles  .f  carbon,  iron,  apatite,  or 
S.I.C.OUS  matter,  or  the  remains  of  a  porous  struc- 
ture,   I    do    not    know;    but    similar    appearances 
occur  in   the  calcareous  fossils  contained  in  altered 
lin..-stones   of  later  date.     Wherever  they  occur   in 
crystalline  limestones,  supposed   to  be   organic,  the 
microscopist    should    examine  them   with   care.     I 
have  sometimes  by  this  appearance  detected  frag- 
ments of   Eozoon  which    afterward    revealed   their 
canals. 

(2)  The  second  question  requires  us  to   consider 


i66 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


the  nature  and  origin  of  the  substances  constituting 
the  specimens.  Reference  has  already  been  made 
to  these  in  our  fifth  chapter,  but  they  may  be 
more  particularly  noticed  here  in  connection  with 
the  forms  as  above  described. 

The  calcareous  laminae  are  usually  composed  of 
clear  translucent  calcite  or  calcium  carbonate, 
though,  as  in  the  case  of  many  later  fossils,  some- 
times replaced  by  dolomite.  It  often  has  the  fine 
granular  appearance  above  referred  to,  but  is 
nearly  always  crystalline,  and  traversed  by  cleavage 
planes  visible  under  the  microscope.^  This  cry- 
stalline structure,  as  every  student  of  fossils  knows, 
is  very  common  in  calcareous  fossils  of  all  geo- 
logical ages.  In  the  thicker  laminae  the  canals 
traversing  them  and  branching  out  in  their  sub- 
stance are  usually  visible  under  a  low  power, 
except  when  they  are  filled  with  calcite  similar  to 
that  of  the  laminae  themselves.  In  this  case  they 
can  be  seen  only  by  very  careful  management  of 
an  oblique  and  subdued  light.  When  occupied 
with  serpentine,  this  presents,  in  a  thin  slice  under 


*  Especially  when  the  specimen  has  been  heated  or  jarred 
in  the  process  of  grinding  or  polishing. 


I 


THE  DAWN  OF  LIFE 


167 


transmitted  light,   a  yellowish    or  brownish  colour, 
and     in    a    specimen     decalcified     with    an    acid 
an    opaque    white    appearance.     In    some    of    the 
larger  threads  of  serpentine,  as  already  stated,  this 
mineral  forms  a  thin  outer  cylinder  with  a  core  of 
calcite  or  dolomite  within  ;   but  this   appearance  is 
not    common.     Here    and   there,   especially   in   the 
lower    layers,   a   portion   of   a   tube    is    filled    with 
the    harder    mineral    pyroxene,   which    is    in   some 
respects  similar  to  serpentine,  except   that   it  con- 
tains lime  as  well  as  magnesia,  and  is  destitute  of 
water    as    an     ingredient.      The    finer    tubuli    into 
which    the    canals    ramify   are    most   usually   filled 
with   dolomite  or   magnesian   limestone,  which   has 
a    glossy  appearance  and    higher    lustre    than   the 
surrounding   calcite,   and   so    may   be  distinguished 
even    in   a   transparent  slice;   but  these   fine   dolo- 
mite  threads   are   best  seen  when  the  surface  of  a 
slice   is  treated   with   a  dilute  acid   in   the  cold,  in 
which  circumstances  the   calcite   is  dissolved,  while 
the  dolomite  remains  as  tufts  of  delicate  cylindrical 
hairs,  presenting  often  a  very  beautiful   appearance 
under    the    microscope.     Thus,   as    in    many   other 
fossils,  what  are  supposed  to  have  been  tubes  and 
tubuli  are  found  not  empty,  but  filled  with  matter 


1 1' 

4    ■ 


1 68 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


^:V' 


I 


I 


even    harder    and    more    resisting    than    the    shell 
itself. 

Serpentine  is  a  mineral  which  has  been  produced 
in  different  ways.  Some  igneous  or  volcanic  rocks 
consist  largely  of  compounds  of  silica  and  mag- 
nesia (olivine,  etc.).  When  these  rocks  have  be- 
come cold  and  are  exposed  to  the  action  of  water, 
they  sometimes  absorb  this  and  become  hydrated, 
thus  passing  into  a  kind  of  serpentine.  When  such 
rocks  are  pulverized  and  dispersed  as  volcanic  ash, 
this  falling  into  the  sea  may  be  there  hydrated, 
and  may  form  serpcntinous  layers,  or  in  a  fine 
paste  or  in  solution  may  pass  into  the  pores  and 
cavities  of  shells  and  other  organic  things,  acting, 
as  we  have  seen,  in  the  same  manner  with  ordinary 
glauconite.  In  like  manner  serpentine  of  this 
origin  may  form  nodules  or  grains  in  limestones, 
in  consequence  of  its  particles  being  aggregated 
together  by  concretionary  attraction.  We  have 
already  seen  that  some  comparatively  modern  so- 
called  glauconites  are  essentially  of  the  nature  of 
serpentine,  and  we  know  that  in  the  old  Lauren- 
tian  sea,  salts  of  magnesia  and  magnesian  minerals 
were  abundant,  so  that  serpentinous  minerals  might 
play   a   greater   part   than    they  do   in    the   modern 


THE   DAWN   OF  LIFE 


169 


seas.     Loganite,   the   mineralizing   substance   of  the 
Burgess    Eozoon,   is   different    from   serpentine,  yet 
closely    allied    to    the    glauconites.      The    presence 
of  pyroxene   may   be   explained   in   a   similar  way. 
It    is    a   frequent    constituent    of    bedded    volcanic 
rocks   and  of  volcanic  ashes,  and  beds  of  it  occur 
in  the  Grenville  series  which   once,  no  doubt,  were 
ash-beds.       Layers    of    it    also    occasionally    occur 
from  a  similar  cause  in  the  limestone,  and  crystals 
of  it   have   been   deposited   by   water   in   the    veins 
passing  through    the   limestones   and    schists.      Dr. 
Johnston-Lavis   has   described   in   the  July   number 
of  the    Geological  Magaaine   for    1895    the    aqueous 
deposition   at    ordinary   temperature   of    crystals   of 
pyroxene  and    hornblende,   in   cavities  and   crevices 
of   bones   included    in    an    ash-bed    of  recent    date, 
and   in  presence  of  calcite,  apatite,  and   fluoride  of 
calcium,   as    in    the    Grenville    series.       This    is    a 
modern  instance  analogous  to  that  suggested  above. 
Hence   all   these    minerals   filling   the   cavities    and 
canals    of    Eozoon    may   have    been    deposited    by 
water  at  ordinary  temperatures,  and   have   no  con- 
nection with  the  alteration  to  which   the  beds  have 
been  subsequently  subjected. 

I    may  add  here  that  a  Tertiary  glauconite   from 


II 


iir: 


170  RELICS  OF   rklMEVAL  LIFE 

the  Calcaire  Grossier  of  Paris  analysed  by  Berthier* 
is  essentially  a  serpentine  composed  of  silicate  of 
iron  and  magnesia,  that  Loganite  as  analysed  by 
Hunt  contains  thirty-one  per  cent,  of  magnesia, 
and  that  Hoskins  has  shown  *  that  modern  glau- 
conites  often  contain  large  proportions  of  magr  sia 
and  equivalent  bases. 

It  is  also  to  be  observed  that  independently  of 
volcanic  debris  the  reports  of  the  Challenger  ex- 
pedition show  that  in  the  deep  seas  the  decay  of 
organic  matter  causes  an  alkaline  condition  of  the 
sediments  leading  to  the  formation  of  alkaline 
silicates,  while  the  presence  of  decaying  volcanic 
dust  furnishes  the  basis,  whether  of  iron,  alumina, 
or  magnesia,  necessary  for  the  making  up  of 
glauconite.  I  have  also  suggested  that  the  assimila- 
tion by  Protozoa  making  calcareous  skeletons,  of  the 
111  matter  of  Diatoms  or  humble  plants  having  soluble 

silica  in  their  organization   or  of  silicious   Protozoa, 
ii  and    sponge    germs,   must    set    free    much    soluble 

silica  as  a  rejected  or  excremPiititious  matter  which 
may  contribute  to  the  same  result. 


*  Beudant,  Mineralogiey  xi.  178. 
■  Geological  Magazine^  July,  1895. 


THE  DAWN   OF  LIFE 


17' 


It  is   much    more    likely    that    the    serpentine    of 
the   Laurentian   limestones    was   produced   in   these 
ways  than    that   it   resulted   from   the  hydration   of 
magnesian  minerals  after  the  rock  was  consolidated. 
In  the  former  case  it  would  be  in  the  most  favour- 
able  conditions  for  mineralizing  organisms  as  glau- 
conites   do    in    the    modern    seas.     In   the   latter  it 
would    cause   disturbances   and   changes   of  volume 
of  which  we  have  no  evidence. 

We  thus  find  that  the  chemistry  of  the  modern 
seas  and  that  relating  to  the  preservation  of  fossils 
of  various  ages  by  silicious  infiltrations  lends  great 
probability  to  the  belief  that  serpentine  played 
this  r61e  in  the  oldest  seas,  though  it  would  seem 
that  dolomite  was  more  suitable  to  the  filling  of 
the  extremities  of  the  minute  tubes  and  their  finer 
terminations.* 

(3)  Our  third  question  leads  to  the  inquiry  in 
what  modern  or  ancient  marine  animals  we  can 
find    structures    akin    to    those    of    our    supposed 


»  I  have  shown  also  that  in  the  limestone  containing  Eozoon 
we  find  layers  holding  concretions  of  serpentine  alternating 
with  others  holding  crystals  of  dolomite,  as  if  there  were  at 
some  times  conditions  favourable  to  the  deposition  of  silicate 
of  magnesia,  and  at  others  to  that  of  the  carbonate. 


I 


172 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


i  t 


■ll 
I 
ll 


Laiircntian  fossil.  The  first  analo<jy  which  sug- 
gested itself  to  Sir  W.  Logan,  and  a  very  natural 
one,  was  that  to  the  so-called  layer-corals  (Figs.  43 
to  45)  that  abound  in  the  Silurian,  Ordovician,  and 
Cambrian  rocks,    and    which     though    undoubtedly 


Fig.  43.  —Stromatocerium  rugosum^  Hall,  Ordovician. 


fossil  animals,  have  proved  very  difficult  to  inter- 
pret or  to  assign  to  any  known  group.  At  first 
vaguely  associated  with  the  true  corals,  they  were 
subsequently  regarded  as  probably  of  more  simple 
character,    and    as    gigantic    Protozoa ;    and    later 


i 


TIIK    DAWN   OF   LIFE 


173 


strong  reasons  have  been  assijjned  for  g\vin<r  them 
an  intermediate  place,  as  aUied  to  those  curious 
communities   of  humble  animals   possessin^c,'  simple 


^fit:J;•i>A:|;^••••••■'^•:v;<;^■•^•;^^^/•^•'•'^ 


••JJ.V:'. 


^*  •*•  •  <  '•••'Ai.VA'Vf.r'V-*  - 
Fig.  44. — Structures  of  Stromatofota. 

GuarL^°!rl\°Th;°i!'''''li^'^''-'""-    <^>  Wall  with  pores,  and  coated  with  crystals  of 
quartz,     (c)  Thickened  portion  of  wall  with  canals,    {d)  Lamina;  and  pilla 


lars. 


stomachs  and  prehensile  tentacles  (Hydroids)  which 
form  some  of  the  simpler  corals  (Millepores,  etc.), 
and  the  crusts  (Hydractiniae)  which  cover  dead 
shells  and  other  bodies  in  the  sea.     When  examined 


1 

I 


i 


III 
II 


illl 

111 

ill) 


'■  i«  . 


Ill 


174 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


microscopically,  however,  they  differ  very  much 
among  themselves,  and  it  may  be  that  some  of 
them  were  Hydroids  and  some  Protozoa.  The  oldest 
that  we  at  present  know,  and  consequently  the  near- 
est in  time  to  Eozoon,  impress  us  rather  with  the 
latter  affinity.  They  are  the  fossils  of  the  genus 
Cryptozoon  of  Hall  (Fig.  7*),  which  form  great 
masses  filling  certain  beds  of  Upper  Cambrian  age. 


'I 
ii 

,  ■! 

;,>l 
;  i( 

I 

,  t 

t 

l«i 


l''t 


^Is^/^ 


Fig.  45. — Tubular  Sttunute  of  Cwnostroma,  Silurian. 

and  which,  when  sliced  and  studied  microscopically, 
are  found  to  consist  of  concentric  thin  laminae  filled 
in  between  with  a  porous  mass  of  calcareous  matter 
penetrated  by  an  infinity  of  tortuous  tubes.  Forms 
of  this  kind  have  been  traced  downward  into  pre- 
Cambrian  beds  in  Colorado,  and  as  we  shall  find  in 
New  Brunswick,  into  the  Upper  Laurentian  itself. 
They  present,  however,   structural   differences  from 

*  See  Figs.  7  and  8,  pp.  37,  39 ;  also  Fig.  8  and  Microscopic 
slice,  Fig.  61,  at  end. 


I 


THE  DAWN   OF  LII'E 


'75 


Eozoon,    which    rather    conforms    to   the    arrange- 
ments found  in  some  Protozoa  of  smaller  size,  and 
which,    under    the    name    of     Foraminifera,    have 
abounded  in  all  geological  periods,   and  are  exces- 
sively abundant  in  the   modern  ocean.     They  may 
be    defined    as    animals    composed   of    a    soft    and 
apparently    homogeneous    animal    jelly    known    as 
protoplasm  or  sarcode.      When  carefully  examined 
however,  it  is  found  to  have  a  granular  texture  and 
to  be   divisible  into   two   layers,   an   outer   and   an 
inner,    while    it     possesses    a    little    hollow    vessel 
capable    of    expanding    and    absorbing    the    liquid 
matter   of  the  enclosing    protoplasm,    and   of   con- 
tracting so   as   to  expel    its   contents.     This   seems 
to  be  the  only  organ  of  circulation  and   excretion. 
There    are,    however,    small    cells    or    reproductive 
bodies  in  the  interior,  varying  in  number,  size,  and 
development  in  different  forms.     The  most  remark- 
able property  of  these  creatures  is  that  of  stretching 
out   from   the   surface   of  the   body  threads  or  prot 
jections   of   the   protoplasm,'   often   of   considerable 
length,  and  which  serve  at  once  as  organs  of  loco- 
motion   and    prehension.      These    creatures   are    in 


*  Known  as  Pseudopodia. 


176 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


II; 

illi 
•III! 


i    4'' 


•III' 

i 


t 


i 

if' 

dllt 


I  iii: 


sorp'    respects  the  simplest  of  animals,  yet  in  other 
respects  they  present   strange    complexities.      This 


Ainaeba.  Actinophryi. 

From  original  sketches. 


Biloculina.     A  many-chambered  Fora-  Polystomelia.    A  spiral  Foraminifcr. 

iiiiiiircr.       Magnified    as    a    trans|>areiil      Magiiitied  as  an  opaque  object, 
object. 

Fig.  46. — Recent  Protozoa. 

is  more  especially  evident  in  their  tests  or  cover- 
ings, made  for  the  most  part  of  limestone  or 
calcium  carbonate,  but  sometimes  of  grains  of  fine 


^ii 


:' 


THE  DAWN  OF  LIFE 


177 


sand     cemented     together.       These    coverings    are 
always  perforated  with  at  least   one  orifice   for  the 
emission  of  the  thread-like  processes  or  pseudopods, 
and   often  with  a  vast  number  of  small   pores   for 
the  same  purpose.     Sometimes  the  test  or  shell   is 
smooth,    sometimes     beautifully     sculptured     exter- 
nally.    Sometimes   it   consists  of  a  single   chamber 
like  a   ball   or   vase.      More   often,  as   the   animals 
increase    in    size,   they    form    additional    chambers, 
and    the    body   thus    becomes    divided    into    lobes' 
connected  with  each  other  by  necks  passing  through 
orifices   in   the   partitions.      The    chambers   are   ar- 
ranged  in   rows   or   in   spirals,  and   in    other   ways 
giving  a  vast  variety  of  forms,  often  presenting  the 
most    beautiful     patterns    executed     in    the    purest 
white  marble,  and   the  ornamental    parts   constitute 
thickenings  of  the  walls  giving  greater  strength,  and 
are  penetrated  with  microscopic  canals  communicat- 
ing with  the  soft  substance  of  the  animal. 

These  creatures  abound  in  all  parts  of  the  ocean, 
from  the  surface  to  the  greatest  depths.  The 
Foraminifera  have  also  existed  from  the  earliest 
geological  times,  and  in  all  the  long  ages  of  the 
earth's  history  seem  to  have  retained  the  same 
structures  and  even  ornamentation ;  so  that  species 

12 


iii: 


'¥ 


I 


178 


RELICS   OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


from  very  old  geological  formations  are  often  scarcely 
distinguishable  from  those  now  living,  and  must  have 
played  precisely  the  same  parts  in  the  system  of 
nature.  One  of  these  functions  is  that  of  accumu- 
lating great  thicknesses  of  calcareous  matter  in  the 
sea-bottom. 

The  manner  in  which  such  accumulation  takes 
place  we  learn  from  what  is  now  going  on  in  the 
ocean,  more  especially  from  the  result  of  the  recent 
deep-sea  dredging  expeditions.  The  Foraminifera 
are  vastly  numerous,  both  near  the  surface  and  at 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  multiply  rapidly;  and 
as  successive  generations  die,  their  shells  accumu- 
late on  the  ocean  bed,  or  are  swept  by  currents 
into  banks,  and  thus  in  process  of  time  constitute 
thick  beds  of  white  chalky  material,  which  may 
eventually  be  hardened  into  limestone.  This  pro- 
cess is  now  depositing  a  great  thickness  of  white 
ooze  in  the  bottom  of  the  ocean ;  and  in  times 
past  it  has  produced  such  vast  thicknesses  of 
calcareous  matter  as  the  chalk  and  the  nummulitic 
limestone  of  Europe  and  the  orbitoidal  limestone 
of  America.  The  chalk,  which  alone  attains  a 
maximum  thickness  of  1,000  feet,  and,  according 
to    Lyell,  can  be  traced  across   Europe  tor    1,100 


THE   DAWN   OF  LIFE 


179 


geographical  miles,  may  be  said  to  be  entirely 
composed  of  shells  of  Foraminifera  imbedded  in  a 
paste  of  still  more  minute  calcareous  bodies,  the 
Coccoliths,  which  are  probably  products  of  marine 
vegetable  life,  if  not  of  some  animal  organism 
still  simpler  than  the  Foraminifera. 

There  are,  however,  some  sessile  examples  of  these 
animals  which  attain  to  larger  dimensions  than  the 
free  and  locomotive  forms.     As  an  example  of  these 
we  may  take  the  Polytrema,  which  forms  little  hard 
red  lumps  on  West  Indian  corals.     Such  a  creature, 
beginning  life  as  a  little  round  spot  of  protoplasm, 
almost  invisible,  and  protected  with  a  little  dome  of 
carbonate  of  lime  for  the  extension  of  its  pseudopods 
as   it   grows  in  size,  adds   chamber   to   chamber   in 
successive   tiers   till  it  assumes  an  appreciable  size, 
all    the  chambers   communicating   with   each   other, 
while  the  outer  ones  are  perforated  with  pores  for 
extension  of  the  pseudopods.     In  one  form  {Carpen- 
teria)  the  same  end  is  secured  by  leaving  an  open 
space  in  the  middle  of  the  conical  mass  like  the  crater 
of  a   small   volcano.      It   is   with   these   larger   and 
sessile  formes  that  we  must  compare  Eozoon,  though 
some  of  its  minute  structures  rather  resemble  those 
of  some  smaller  types. 


I'  i| 
4 


I 


M! 


ll! 


f| 


I 

ilij 


i*: 


IJ 


i8o 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


All  the  creatures  referred  to  above,  notwithstand- 
ing the  differences  in  their  skeletons,  resemble  each 
other  very  closely  in  their  soft  parts,  and  come  under 
the  general  name  of  Foraminifera,  a  name  having 
reference  to  the  openings  by  which  the  animal  matter 
within  communicates  with  the  water  without,  for 
nutrition  and  respiration.  Such  creatures  may  be 
regarded  as  the  simplest  and  most  ready  media  for 
the  conversion  of  vegetable  matter  into  animal  tis- 
sues, and  their  functions  are  almost  entirely  limited 
to  those  of  nutrition.  Hence  it  is  likely  that  they 
will  be  able  to  appear  in  the  most  gigantic  forms 
under  such  conditions  as  afford  them  the  greatest 
amount  of  pabulum  for  the  nourishment  of  their 
soft  parts  and  for  their  skeletons.  There  is  reason 
to  believe,  for  example,  that  the  occurrence,  both  in 
the  chalk  and  the  deep-sea  mud,  of  immense  quan- 
tities of  the  minute  oval  bodies  known  as  Coccoliths 
along  with  Foraminifera,  is  not  accidental.  The 
Coccoliths  appear  to  be  grains  of  calcareous  matter 
formed  in  minute  plants  adapted  to  a  deep-sea  habi- 
tat ;  and  these,  along  with  the  vegetable  and  animal 
debris  constantly  being  derived  from  the  death  of 
the  living  things  at  the  surface,  and  falling  to  the 
bottom,  afford   the  material    both  of  sarcode  and 


THE  DAWN  OF  LIFE 


I8l 


Shell.     Now  if  the  Laurentian  graphite  represents  an 
exuberance  of  vegetable  growth  in   those  old   seas 
proportionate  to  the  great  supplies  of  carbonic  acid 
in   the   atmosphere  and  in    the   waters,   and   if  the 
Eozoic  ocean  was  even  better  supplied  with  carbon- 
ate  of   lime   than   those    Silurian    seas   whose  vast 
limestones  bear  testimony  to  their  richness  in  such 
material,  we  can  easily  imagine  that  the  conditions 
may  have  been  more  favourable  to  a  creature  like 
Eozoon  than  those  of  any  other  period  ,  f  geological 
time. 

Growing,  as  Eozoon   may  be  supposed   to  have 
done,    on    the    floor   of   the    ocean,    and    covering 
wide  patches  with   more  or  less  irregular  masses, 
It  must   have   thrown   up    from   its   whole   surface 
its    pseudopods    to    seize    whatever    floating    par- 
ticles of  food  the  waters  carried  over  it      There  is 
also  reason  to  believe,  from  the  outline  of  certain 
specimens,  that  it  often  grew   upward  in   inverted 
conical,   or    club-shaped    forms,   and    that  only   the 
broader  patches  were    penetrated    by  the   tubes   or 
oscula   already   mentioned,  admitting  the  sea-water 
deeply   into   the  substance  of  the  masses.     In   this 
way  its   growth   might    be    rapid   and    continuous  ; 
but  It  does  not  seem  to  have  possessed  the  power 


i 


I'.nr 


% 


m 


ji 

m 


Ik 


Hi 


!'     1 


182 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


of  growing  indefinitely  by  new  and  living  layers 
covering  those  that  had  died,  in  the  manner  of  some 
corals.  Its  life  seems  to  have  hrd  a  definite  termina- 
tion, and  when  that  was  reached,  an  entirely  new 
colony  had  to  be  commenced.  In  this  it  had  more 
affinity  with  the  Foraminifera,  as  we  now  know 
them,  than  with  the  corals,  though  practically  it  had 
the  same  power  with  the  coral  polyps  of  accumu- 
lating limestone  in  the  sea-bottom,  a  power  indeed 
still  possessed  by  its  foraminiferal  successors.  In 
the  case  of  coral  limestones,  we  know  that  a  large 
proportion  of  these  consist,  not  of  continuous  reefs, 
but  of  fragments  of  coral  mixed  with  other  calcare- 
ous organisms,  spread  usually  by  waves  and  currents 
in  continuous  beds  over  the  sea-bottom.  In  like 
manner  we  find  in  the  limestones  containing  Eozoon, 
layers  of  fragmental  matter  which  shows  in  places  the 
characteristic  structures,  and  which  evidently  repre- 
sents the  deb.  is  swept  from  the  Eozoon  masses  and 
reefs  by  the  action  of  the  waves.  With  this  frag- 
mental matter  small  rounded  organisms  to  be  noticed 
in  the  sequel  occur  ;  and  while  they  may  be  distinct 
animals  resembling  the  smaller  modern  species,  they 
may  also  be  the  fry  of  Eozoon,  or  small  portions  of 
its  acervuline   upper  surface  floated  off  in  a  living 


!   '  t 


TilE   DAWN   OK   LIFE 


^^'j 


State,  and  possibly  capable  of  living  independently, 
and  of  founding  new  colonies. 

It  is  only  by  a  somewhat  wild  poetical  licence  that 
ICozoon  has  been  represented  as  a  "  kind  of  enormous 
composite  animal  stretching  from  the  shores  of  La- 


FlG.  4j.~S/iVe  of  Umesfone  (maiini/ied), 
(«)  Fragment  of  Eozooii  with  canals.     (lA   Fra<Tm„„tc  ^r  „         i  •  . 

organic.    (.)  Structureless  calcite^tiS^.'S  ^^iSS^"^:^^^  '^ 

brador  to  Lake  Superior,  and  then.e  northward  and 
southward  to  an  unknown  distance,  and  forming 
masses  1,500  feet  in  depth."  We  may  discuss  by" 
and-by  the  question  of  the  composite  nature  of 
masses  of  Eozoon,  and  we  see  in  the  corals  evidence 
of  the  great  size  to  which  composite  animals  of  a 


tB4 


kELlCS  of  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


^^: 


ii 


I 
I 


'i 


I 


higher  grade  can  attain.  In  the  case  of  Eozoon  we 
must  imagine  an  ocean  floor  more  uniform  and  level 
than  that  now  existing.  On  this  the  organism  would 
establish  itself  in  spots  and  patches.  These  might 
finally  become  confluent  over  large  areas,  just  as 
massive  corals  do.  As  individual  masses  attained 
maturity  and  died,  their  pores  would  be  filled  up 
with  limestone  or  silicious  deposits,  and  thus  could 
form  a  solid  basis  for  new  generations,  and  in  this 
way  limestone  to  an  indefinite  extent  might  be  pro- 
duced. Further,  wherever  such  masses  were  high 
enough  to  be  attacked  by  the  breakers,  or  where 
portions  of  the  sea-bottom  were  elevated,  the  more 
fragile  parts  of  the  surface  would  be  broken  up 
and  scattered  widely  in  beds  of  fragments  over  the 
bottom  of  the  sea,  while  here  and  there  beds  of  mud 
or  sand  or  of  volcanic  debris  would  be  deposited  over 
the  living  or  dead  organic  mass,  and  would  form 
the  layers  of  gneiss  and  other  schistose  rocks  inter- 
stratified  with  the  Laurentian  limestone.  In  this 
way,  in  short,  Eozoon  would  perform  a  function 
combining  that  which  corals  and  Foraminifera  per- 
form in  the  modem  seas  ;  forming  both  reef  lime- 
stones and  extensive  chalky  beds,  and  probably 
living  both  in  the  shallow  and  the  deeper  parts  of 


( 


THE   DAWN   OF   LIFE 


185 


the  ocean.     If  in  connection  with  this  we  consider 
the  rapidity  with  which  the  soft,  simple,  and  almost 
structureless  sarcode  of  these  Protozoa  can  be  built 
up,  and  the  probability  that  they  were  more  abun- 
dantly supplied  with  food,  both  for  nourishing  their 
soft  parts  and  skeletons,  than  any  similar  creatures 
in   later  times,  we  can  readily  understand  the  great 
volume  and   extent    of   the    Laurentian   limestones 
which    they   aided    in   producing.      I    say  aided   in 
producing,  because  I    would    not   desire  to   commit 
myself  to  the  doctrine  that  the  Laurentian  limestones 
are   wholly  of  this    origin.      There    may  have  been 
other  animal    limestone-builders    than    l^Iozoon,   and 
there   may  have  been  limestones  formed   by  plants 
like   the   modern   Nuilipores   or   b)-   merely   mineral 
deposition. 

Its  relations  to  modern  animals  of  its  type  have 
been  very  clearly  defined  by  Dr.  Carpenter.  In  the 
structure  of  its  proper  wall  and  its  fine  parallel  per- 
forations, it  resembles  the  Nummulites  and  their 
allies  (Figs.  48,  49)  ;  and  the  organism  may  therefore 
be  regarded  as  an  aberrant  member  of  the  Nummu- 
line  group,  which  affords  some  of  the  largest  and 
most  widely  distributed  of  the  fossil  Foraminifera. 
This  resemblance  may  be  seen  in  Fig.  48.     To  the 


1 86 


KKLICS  OF   I'RIMKVAL   LIKE 


fj '  .If  ■) 


II'     I 


;i 


J 


II 


I  j#ii!i 


NummuHtcs  it  also  conforms  in  its  tendency  to  form 
a  supplemental  or  intermediate  skeleton  with  canals, 


MMI 

'15 


Fig.  48. — Section  of  a  NuminHlite,  from  Eocene  Limestone  of  Syria. 

Showing  chambers,  tulnili,  .ind  caiinls.     Compare  this  and  Fig.  49  with 

Figs.  38  and  29, 


Fig.  ^^.— Portion  of  Shell  of  Calcarina. 

Magnified,  after  Carpenter,     {a)  Cells,      {b)  Original  cell-wall  with  tubuIL 
(c)  Supplementary  skeleton  with  canals. 

though  the  canals  themselves  in  their  arrangement 
more  nearly  resemble  Calcarina,  which  is  represented 


THE    UAWN    OK    LIKK 


187 


in  Fi^r.  4Q,     In  its  superposition  of  many  la>'crs,  and 
in  its  tendency  to  a  heaped-up  or  acervuline  irreiiular 
L^rou'th  it  resembles  Carpenicria,  Polytrenia  and  Titio- 
ponis,  forms  of  a  different  group   in  so  far  as  shell- 
structure  is  concerned.     The  large  and  curious  sandy 
Foraminifer  from  the  Pacific  dredged  by  Alexander 
Agassiz,    and    named    by    Goes,    Neusina   Agassizii, 
may  also  be  mentioned  as   presenting  some  points 
of  resemblance.!      It    may    thus    be   regarded   as    a 
composite    t\'pe,    combining    peculiarities     now    ob- 
served in  two  groups,  or  it   may  be  regarded  as  a 
representative  in  the  Nummuline  series  of  Polytrema 
and  Tinoporus  in  the  Rotaline  series.     At  the  time 
when  Dr.  Carpenter  stated   these  affinities,  it  might 
be  objected  that  F'oraminifera  of  these  families  are 
in    the    main    found    in    the    Modern    and    Tertiary 
periods.      Dr.  Carpenter   has  since   shown    that  the 
curious   oval   Foraminifer  called   Fusidina,  found  in 
the  coal  formation,  is  m  like  manner  allied  to  both 
Nummulites  and  Rotalines  ;  and  still  more  recently 
Mr.  Brady  has  discovered  a  true  Nummulite  in  the 
Lower  Carboniferous  of  Belgium.     This  group  being 
now  fairly  brought  down  to  the  PaKx^ozoic,  we  may 


*  Bulletin  Mus.  Comp.  Zoology,  vol.  xxiii.,  No.  5,  Dec,  1892. 


, 


i88 


RICMCS  OK   rklMKVAl.   LIKE 


hope  finally  to  trace  it  back  to  the  Primordial,  and 
thus  to  hrinjT  it  still  nearer  to  Eozoon  in  time. 

Though  Kozoon  was  probably  not  the  only  animal 
of  the  Laurentian  seas,  yet  it  was  in  all  likelihood  the 
most  conspicuous  and  important  as  a  collector  of 
calcareous  matter,  filling  the  same  place  afterwards 
occupied  by  the  reef-building  corals.  Though  pro- 
bably less  efficient  than  these  as  a  constructor  of  solid 
limestones,  from- its  less  permanent  and  continuous 
growth,  it  formed  wide  floors  and  patches  on  the  sea- 
bottom,  and  when  these  were  broken  up  vast  quan- 
tities of  limestone  were  formed  from  their  debris.  It 
must  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  Eozoon  was  not 
everywhere  infiltrated  with  serpentine  or  other  sili- 
cious  minerals ;  quantities  of  its  substance  were 
merely  filled  with  carbonate  of  lime,  resembling  the 
chamber-wall  so  closely  that  it  is  nearly  impossible 
to  make  out  the  difference,  and  thus  is  likely  to 
pass  altogether  unobserved  by  collectors,  and  to 
baffle  even  the  microscopist.  Although  therefore 
the  layers  which  contain  well-characterized  Eozoon 
are  few  and  far  between,  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  in  the  composition  of  the  limestones  of  the 
Laurentian  it  bore  no  small  part ;  and  as  these  lime- 
stones are  some  of  them  several  hundreds  of  feet  in 


. 


THE    DAWN   OK   IJFK 


189 


, 


thickness,  and  extend  over  vast  areas,  Kozoon   may 
be  supposed  to  have  been  as  efficient  a  world-builder 
as  the  Stromatoporae  of  the  Silurian  and  Devoniati. 
the  Globigerinae  and  their  allies  in  the  chalk,  or  the 
Nummulites  and   Miliolites  in  the   Kocene.     It  is  a 
remarkable  illustration  of  the  constancy  of  natural 
causes  and  of  the  persistence  of  animal  types,  that 
these    humble    Protozoans,   which   began   to  secrete 
calcareous   matter   in    the   Laurcntian    period,   have 
been   continuing  their  work    in   the   ocean    through 
all    the  geological    ages,   and    are   still    busy   in   ac- 
cumulating  those   chalky   muds   with   which   recent 
dredging  operations   in  the  deep  sea  have  made  us 
so  familiar. 


'i 
i 
t.  ■ 


1 1! 
I 


m 


ir 


III 


ii 


Fig.  50. — Figures  of  Archceospherina, 

(i)  Specimen  with  tubulated  wall.     (2  to  5)  Casts  in  serpentine,  COte  St.  Pierre 

and  Long  Lake 


190 


CONTEMPORARIES  OF  EOZOON 


lUl 


mi 


P  i 


ir 


;Si 


■phi. 


VIII 

CONTEMPORARIES  OF  EOZOON 

n^HE  name  Eozoon,  or  Dawn-animal,  raises  the 
question   whether    we   shall   ever   know    any 
earlier  representative  of  animal  life.     Here  I  think  it 
necessary  to  explain  that   in  suggesting  the   name 
Eozoon   for  the  earliest  fossil,   and   Eozoic   for  the 
formation  in  which  it  is  contained,  I  had  no  intention 
to  affirm  that  there  may   not  have  been  precursors 
of  the  Dawn-animal.     By  the  similar  term.  Eocene, 
Lyell  did  not  mean  to  affirm   that   there  may  not 
have  been  modern  types  in  the  preceding  geological 
periods :  and  so  the  dawn  of  animal  life  may  have 
had  its  grey  or  rosy  breaking  at  a  time  long  anterior 
to    that   in    which   Eozoon   built   its    marble    reefs. 
When  the  fossils  of  this  early  auroral  time  shall  be 
found,  it  will  not  be  hard  to  invent  appropriate  names 
for  them.     There  are,  however,  two  reasons  that  give 
propriety  to  the  name  in  the   present  state  of  our 
knowledge.     One  is,  that  the  Laurentian  rocks  are 
absolutely  the  oldest  that  have  yet  come  under  the 

13 


18S 


194 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


'!i 


fpn 


Hi. 


•if 


^    ll:l 


notice  of  geologists,  and  at  the  present  moment  it 
seems  extremely  improbable  that  any  older  sedi- 
ments exist,  at  least  in  a  condition  to  be  recognised 
as  such.  The  other  is  that  Eozoon,  as  a  member  of 
the  group  Protozoa,  of  gigantic  size  and  comprehen- 
sive type,  and  oceanic  in  its  habitat,  is  as  likely  as 
any  other  creature  that  can  be  imagined  to  have  been 
the  first  representative  of  animal  life  on  our  planet. 
Vegetable  life  may  have  preceded  it,  nay  probably 
did  so  by  at  least  one  great  creative  a;on,  and  may 
have  accumulated  previous  stores  of  organic  matter  ; 
but  if  any  older  forms  of  animal  life  existed,  it  is 
certain  at  least  that  they  cannot  have  belonged  to 
much  simpler  or  more  comprehensive  types.  It  is 
also  to  be  observed  that  such  forms  of  life,  if  they  did 
exist,  may  have  been  naked  protozoa,  which  may 
have  left  no  sign  of  their  existence  except  a  minute 
trace  of  carbonaceous  matter,  and  perhaps  not  even 
this. 

But  if  we  do  not  know,  and  perhaps  are  not  likely 
to  know,  any  animals  older  than  Eozoon,  may  we 
not  find  traces  of  some  of  its  contemporaries,  either 
in  the  Eozoon  limestones  themselves,  or  other  rocks 
associated  with  them  ?  Here  we  must  admit  that  a 
deep-sea  Foraminiferal   limestone  may  give  a  very 


CONTEMPORARIES   OF    EOZOON 


195 


:s 
a 


imperfect  indication  of  the  fauna  of  its  time.  A 
dredger  who  should  have  no  other  information  as  to 
the  existing  population  of  the  world,  except  what  he 
could  gather  from  the  deposits  formed  under  several 
hundred  fathoms  of  water,  would  necessarily  have 
very  inadequate  conceptions  of  the  matter.  In  like 
manner  a  geologist  who  should  have  no  other  infor- 
mation as  to  the  animal  life  of  the  Mesozoic  ages 
than  that  furnished  by  some  of  the  thick  beds  of 
white  chalk,  might  imagine  that  he  had  reached  a 
period  when  the  simplest  kinds  of  protozoa  pre- 
dominated over  all  other  forms  of  life  ;  but  this 
impression  would  at  once  be  corrected  by  the  ex- 
amination of  other  deposits  of  the  same  age  :  so  our 
inferences  as  to  the  life  of  the  Laurentian  from  the 
contents  of  its  oceanic  limestones  may  be  very  im- 
perfect, and  it  may  yet  yield  other  and  various  fossils. 
Its  possibilities  are,  however,  limited  by  the  fact  that 
before  we  reach  this  great  depth  in  the  earth's  crust, 
we  have  already  left  behind  in  much  newer  for- 
mations all  traces  of  animal  life  except  a  few  of  the 
lower  forms  of  aquatic  invertebrates  ;  so  that  we  are 
not  surprised  to  find  only  a  limited  number  of  living 
things,  and  those  of  very  low  type.  Do  we  then 
know  in  the  Laurentian  even  a  few  distinct  species, 


196 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


II    !'' 


'  I   1   -I 


•m 


Dill 


or  is  our  view  limited  altogether  to  Eozoon  Cana- 
dense?  In  answering  this  question,  we  must  bear  in 
mind  that  the  Laurentian  itself  was  of  vast  duration, 
and  that  important  changes  of  life  may  have  taken 
place  even  between  the  deposition  of  the  Eozoon 
limestones  and  that  of  those  rocks  in  which  we  find 
the  comparatively  rich  fauna  of  the  Primordial  age. 
This  subject  was  discussed  by  the  writer  as  early  as 
1865,  a'.id  I  may  repeat  here  what  could  be  said  in 
relation  to  it  at  that  time : — 

"  In  connection  with  these  remarkable  remains,  it 
appeared  desirable  to  ascertain,  if  possible,  what 
share  these  or  other  organic  structures  may  have 
had  in  the  accumulation  of  the  limestones  of  the 
Laurentian  series.  Specimens  were  therefore  selected 
by  Sir  W.  E.  Logan,  and  slices  were  prepared  under 
his  direction.  On  microscopic  examination,  a  num- 
ber of  these  were  found  to  exhibit  merely  a  granular 
aggregation  of  crystals,  occasionally  with  particles  of 
graphite  and  other  foreign  minerals,  or  a  laminated 
mixture  of  calcareous  and  other  matters,  in  the 
manner  of  some  more  modern  sedimentary  lime- 
stones. Others,  however,  were  evidently  made  up 
almost  entirely  of  fragments  of  Eozoon,  or  of  mix- 
tures  of  these   with   other    calcareous   and   carbon- 


CONTEMPORARIES   OF   EOZOON 


ly; 


aceous  fragments  which  afford  more  or  less  evidence 
of  organic  origin.  The  contents  of  these  organic 
limestones  may  be  considered  under  the  follcwincr 
heads  : — 

I.  Remains  of  Eozoon. 
'     2.  Other  calcareous  bodies,  probably  organic. 

3.  Objects  imbedded  in  the  serpentine. 

4.  Carbonaceous  matters. 

"(i)  The  more  perfect  individuals  of  Eozoon  do 
not  constitute  the  mass  of  any  of  the  larger  speci- 
mens in  our  collections  ;    but  considerable  portions 
of  some  of  them  are  made  up  of  material  of  similar 
minute  structure,  destitute  of  lamination,  and  irregu- 
larly arranged.     Some  of  this  material  gives  the  im- 
pression  that  there  may  have  been  organisms  similar 
to  Eozoon,  but  growing  in  an  irregular  or  acervuline 
manner   without    lamination.      Of   this,   however,   I 
cannot  be  certain  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is 
distinct  evidence  of  the  aggregation  of  fragments  of 
Eozoon  in  some  of  these  specimens.     In  some  they 
constitute  the  greater  part  of  the  mass.     In  others 
they  are  imbedded  in  calcareous  matter  of  a  different 
character,  or  in  serpentine  or  granular  pyroxene.     In 
most  of  the  specimens  the  cells  of  the  fossils  are 
more  or  less  filled  with  these  minerals ;  and  in  some 


198 


RELICS   OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


'  '«! 


"•i 


i'll 


i  li 


F4IIII 


'  \ 

••:•<! 

'1 

; 

^:>ii 

1 

4|i  i 

f 

I'- 

*|.i 

;■  t 
■-  ■  1 

j 

ll 

'ii 

:i 

^  1 
i| 

'III 

i 

ii 

1 

? 

instances  it  would  appear  that  the  calcareous  matter 
of  fragments  of  Eozoon  has  been  in  part  replaced  by 
serpentine." 

[I  may  add  here  that  in  the  limestone  at  C6te  St. 
Pierre  there  are  in  some  of  the  beds  successive 
laminae  with  grains  of  serpentine  and  others  with 
crystals  of  dolomite,  and  that  both  contain  fragments 
of  Eozoon.  It  thus  seems  as  if  the  magnesia  as- 
sociated with  the  limestone,  at  some  stages  of 
deposition  took  the  form  of  silicate,  and  in  others 
that  of  carbonate.  I  may  also  observe  here  that  I 
have  detected  fragments  of  Eozoon  in  Laurentian 
limestone  from  New  Brunswick,  from  Chelmsford  in 
Massachusetts,  from  Warren  County,  New  York,  from 
Brazil,  and  from  the  Alps.] 

"(2)  Intermixed  with  the  fragments  of  Eozoon 
above  referred  to  are  other  calcareous  matters  appar- 
ently fragmentary.  They  are  of  various  angular  and 
rounded  forms,  and  present  several  kinds  of  structure. 
The  most  frequent  of  these  is  a  strong  lamination 
varying  in  direction  according  to  the  position  of 
the  fragments,  but  corresponding,  as  far  as  can  be 
ascertained,  with  the  diagonal  of  the  rhombohedral 
cleavage.  This  structure,  though  crystalline,  is  highly 
characteristic  of  crinoidal  remains  when  preserved  in 


CONTEMPORARIES  OF  EOZOON 


199 


altered  limestones.    The  more  dense  parts  of  Eozoon, 
destitute  of  tubuli,  also  sometimes  show  this  structure, 
though  less  distinctly.     Other  fragments  are  compact 
and  structureless,  or  show  only  a  fine  granular  appear- 
ance ;  and  these  sometimes  include  grains,  patches,  or 
fibres  of  graphite.      In    Cambro-Silurian  limestones, 
fragments  of  corals  and  shells  which  have  been  par- 
tially  infiltrated    with    bituminous    matter,   show    a 
structure   like   this.      On   comparison    with    altered 
organic  limestones   of  the  Cambro-Silurian   system, 
these  appearances   would   indicate  that,  in   addition 
to  the  debris  of  Eozoon,  other  calcareous  structures, 
more  like  those  of  cnnoids,  corals,  and  shells,  have' 
contributed  to  the  formation  of  the  Laurentian  lime- 
stones. 

"  (3)   In  the  hydrous  silicate  (Loganite)  filling  the 
chambers    of   a    large    specimen    of    Eozoon    from 
Burgess,  there  are  numerous  small  pieces  of  foreign 
matter ;  and  the  silicate  itself  is  laminated,  indicat- 
ing its  sedimentary  nature.     Some  of  the  included 
fragments   appear    to    be   carbonaceous,   others   cal- 
careous;   but  no   distinct   organic  structure   can   be 
detected  in  them.     There  are,  however,  in  the  Logan- 
ite, many  minute  silicious  grains  of  a  bright  green 
colour,  resembling  greensand   concretions;   and  the 


. 


200 


RELICS  OF   i'KIMKVAL   LIFE 


manner  in  which  these  arc  occasionally  arranged  in 
lines  and  groups  suggests  the  supposition  that  they 
may  possibly  be  casts  of  the  interior  of  minute  Fora- 
miniferal  shells.  They  may,  however,  be  concre- 
tionary in  their  origin  (Fig.  51). 

"  (4)  In  some  of  the  Laurentian  limestones  sub- 
mitted to  me  by  Sir  W.  E.  Logan,  and  in  others  from 
Arnprior  on  the  Ottawa,  there  are  fibres  and  granules 


Mm 


\m 


Fig.  51. — Archaospherimc  from  Burgess  Eozoon.     Grains 

included  in  Loganite. 

(Magnified.) 

of  carbonaceous  matter  which  do  not  conform  to  the 
crystalline  structure,  and  present  appearances  quite 
similar  to  those  which  in  more  modern  limestones  re- 
sult from  the  decomposition  of  the  algae,  etc.  Though 
retaining  mere  traces  of  organic  structure,  little  doubt 
would  be  entertained  as  to  their  vegetable  origin  if 
they  were  found  in  fossiliferous  limestones.  In  lime- 
stones of  Upper  Laurentian  age,  near  St.  John, 
New    Brunswick,    more    distinct    fibres    occur,  and 


CONTEMPORARIES  OF  EOZOON 


201 


associated  with  these  beds  Matthew  has  found 
what  seem  to  be  spicules  of  sponges,  some  simple 
and  others  hexactinelled  like  those  of  Protospongia 
of  the  Cambrian. 

Though  the  abundance  and  wide  distribution   of 
Eozoon,  and   the  important  part  it  seems   to   have 
acted  in  the  accumulation  of  limestone,  indicate  that 
it  was  one  of  the  most  prevalent  forms  of  animal 
existence  in  the  seas  of  the  Laurentian  period,  the 
non-existence  of  other  organic  beings  is  not  implied. 
On   the   contrary,  independently  of  the   indications 
afforded  by  the  limestones  themselves,  it  is  evident 
that  in  order  to  the  existence  and  growth  of  these 
large  Rhizopods,  the  waters  must  have  swarmed  with 
more  minute  animal  or  vegetable  organisms  on  which 
they  could  subsist.     On  the  other  hand,  though  this 
is  a  less  certain  inference,  the  dense  calcareous  skele- 
ton of  Eozoon  may  indicate  that  it  also  was  liable  to 
the  attacks  of  animal  enemies.     It  is  also  possible 
that  the  growth  of  Eozoon  or  the  deposition  of  the 
serpentine  and  pyroxene  in  which  its  remains  have 
been  preserved,  or  both,  may  have  been  connected 
with  certain  oceanic  depths  and  conditions,  and  that 
we  have  as  yet  revealed  to  us  the  life  of  only  certain 
stations  in  the  Laurentian  seas.     Whatever  conjee- 


202 


RELICS   OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


■>.;! 


I', 


"»,iW 


•'■''•il'li 


m 


n 


"i.j'ti 
"ft"' 


tures  we  may  form  on  these  more  problematic  points, 
the  observations  above  detailed  appear  to  establish 
the  following  conclusions  : — 

First,  that  in  the  Laurentian  period,  as  in  sub- 
sequent geological  epochs,  '.he  Rhizopods  were 
important  agents  in  the  accumulation  of  beds  of 
limestone  ;  and  secondly,  that  in  this  early  period 
these  low  forms  of  animal  life  attained  to  a  de- 
velopment, in  point  of  magnitude  and  complexity, 
unexampled,  in  so  far  as  yet  known,  in  the  succeed- 
ing ages  of  the  earth's  history.  This  early  culmina- 
tion of  the  Rhizopods  is  in  accordance  with  one  of 
the  great  laws  of  the  succession  of  living  beings, 
ascertained  from  the  study  of  the  introduction  and 
progress  of  other  groups  ;  and,  should  it  prove  that 
these  great  Protozoans  were  really  the  dominant  type 
of  animals  in  the  Laurentian  period,  this  fact  might 
be  regarded  as  an  indication  that  in  these  ancient 
rocks  we  may  actually  have  the  records  of  the  first 
appearance  of  animal  life  on  our  planet. 

With  reference  to  the  first  of  the  above  heads,  I 
have  now  to  state  that  it  seems  quite  certain  that  the 
upper  and  younger  portions  of  the  masses  of  Eozoon 
often  passed  into  the  acervuline  form,  and  the  period 
in  which  this  change  took  place  seems  to  have  de- 


i 


CONTEMPOKAIUES  OF  EOZOON 


203 


pended  on  circumstances.     In  some  specimens  there 
are  only  a  few  regular  layers,  and  then   a  heap  of 
irregular  cells.      In  other  cases  a  hundred   or  more 
regular  layers  were  formed  ;    but  even   in  this  case 
little   groups   of  irregular   cells  occurred    at  certain 
points   near  the   surface.     I   have  also  found  some 
masses  clearly   not   fragmental   which   consist   alto- 
gether of  acervuline  cells.     A  specimen  of  this  kind 
is   represented    in   Fig.    52.      It   is   oval    in   outline, 
enclosed   in    a    nodule    of   serpentine,   about    three 
inches   in   length,   wholly   made   up   of  rounded   or 
cylindrical   cells,  the  walls  of  which   have  a   beau- 
tiful   tubular    structure,   but    there    is    little    or  no 
supplemental   skeleton.     Whether   this   is  a  portion 
accidentally  broken  off  from  the  top  of  a  mass  of 
Eozoon,  or  a   peculiar   varietal   form,  or   a   distinct 
species,  it  would  be  difficult  to  determine.     In  the 
meantime  I  have  described  it  as  a.  variety,  "  acervu- 
lina"  of  the  species  Eozoon  Canadense.     It  admits 
of   comparison    with    a    fragment    figured    by    Dr. 
Carpenter,  which  he  compares  with  the  chamberlets 
and  tubes  of  Nunimidites  Icevigata  of  the  Eocene.^ 
Another    variety    also,    from    Petite    Nation,  shows 


*  Proceedings  of  Geolor^ical  Society ^  1875. 


I'll 

■  \« 


Ml 


;      I  I 


i 
I' 


■•III 


m 


"  '111 


"I,  lull) 


'ii:iiiii 


III 

'»i"l! 


(  I;  I  NH^IIIIPI 

..  *;      !l*''iiiiiii( 


»' 1,1111 1 


204 


RELICS   OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


extremely  thin  laminae,  closely  placed  together  and 
very  massive,  and  with  little  supplemental  skeleton. 
This  may  be  allied  to  the  last,  and  may  be  named 
variety  "  minor."  * 

All  this,  however,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  layers 
of  fragments  of  Eozoon  which  are  scattered  through 
the  Laurentian  limestones.  In  these  the  fossil  is 
sometimes  preserved  in  the  ordinary  manner,  with  its 
cavities  filled  with  serpentine,  and  the  thicker  parts  of 
the  skeleton  having  their  canals  filled  with  this  sub- 
stance. In  this  case  the  chambers  may  have  been 
occupied  with  serpentine  before  it  was  broken  up. 
At  St.  Pierre  there  are  distinct  layers  of  this  kind, 
from  half  an  inch  to  several  inches  in  thickness, 
regularly  interstratified  with  the  ordinary  limestone. 
In  other  layers  no  serpentine  occurs,  but  the  inter- 
stices of  the  fragments  are  filled  with  crystalline 
dolomite  or  magnesian  limestone,  which  has  also 
penetrated  the  canals  ;  and  there  are  indications, 
though  less  manifest,  that  some  at  least  of  the 
layers  of  pure  limestone  are  composed  of  fragmental 
Eozoon.    In  the  Laurentian  limestone  of  Wentworth, 


*  Annals  and  Magazine  of  Natural  History^  Ser.  4,  vol.  xiii. 
P-  457.  - 


Fig.  S2.—Acfrvulim  Variety  of  Eozoon,  Cdie  St.  Pierre. 


(«)  Genera!  form,  half  natural  size.    (Jf)  Portion  of  cellular  interior,    maenified 
showing  the  course  of  the  tubuli.  ' 


Fig.  53. — Archccospherince  from  Cdie  St,  Pierre. 

(a)   Spedroens  dissolved   out   by  acid,  the   lower   one  showing  interior  septa. 
(^)  Specimens  seen  in  section. 


105 


CONTEMPORARIES  OF  EOZOON 


207 


belonging  apparently  to  the  same  band  with  that  of 
St.  Pierre,  there  are  many  small  rounded  pieces  of 
limestone,  evidently  the  debris  of  some  older  rock, 
broken  up  and  rounded  by  attrition.  In  some  of 
these  fragments  the  structure  of  Eozoon  may  be 
plainly  perceived.  This  shows  that  still  older  lime- 
stones composed  of  Eozoon  were  at  that  time  under- 
going waste,  and  carries  our  view  of  the  existence 
of  this  fossil  back  to  the  very  beginning  of  the 
Grenville  series  of  the  Laurentian. 

With  respect  to  organic  fragments  not  showing  the 
structure  of  Eozoon,  I  have  not  as  yet  been  able  to 
refer  these  to  any  definite  origin.  Some  of  them 
may  be  simply  thick  portions  of  the  shell  of  Eozoon 
with  their  pores  filled  with  calcite,  so  as  to  present 
a  homogeneous  appearance.  Others  have  much  the 
appearance  of  fragments  of  such  Primordial  forms 
as  Arch(Bocyathus,  now  usually  regarded  as  corals  or 
sponges  ;  but  after  much  careful  search,  I  have  thus 
far  been  unable  to  say  more  than  I  could  say  in 
1865. 

It  is  different,  however,  with  the  round  cells  infil- 
trated with  serpentine  and  with  the  silicious  grains 
included  in  the  loganite.  Fig.  53  shows  such  bodies 
found  mixed  with  fragmental   Eozoon  and  in  seoa- 


3  * 


•■•,    if  I 


208 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


rate  thin  layers  at  C6te  St.  Pierre.  In  Fig.  51  I 
have  shown  some  of  the  singular  grains  found  in 
the  loganite  occupying  the  chambers  of  Eozoon 
from  Burgess,  and  in  Fig.  54  some  remarkable 
forms  of  this  kind  found  in  the  limestones  of  Long 


k  I 


'liiil 


W'. 


■ 


MMM 


Fig.  54. — Archaospheritm  from  Long  Lake  Limestone, 

(Magnified.) 

(a)  Single  cell,  showing  tubulated  wall.     (*,  c)  Portions  of  same  more  highly  mag- 
nified,   (jt)  Casts  decalcified,  and  showing  casts  of  tubules. 

Lake  and  Wentworth.  All  these,  I  think,  are 
essentially  of  the  same  nature,  namely,  chambers 
originally  invested  with  a  tubulated  wall  like 
Eozoon,  and  aggregated  in  groups,  sometimes  in  a 
linear  manner,  sometimes  spirally,  like  those  Globi- 
gerinae  which  constitute  the  mass  of  modern  deep- 


CONTEMrORARIES  OF  EOZOON 


209 


I    I 

.  in 
0011 
ible 


ong 


■  mag- 
are 
bers 
like 
in  a 
obi- 
eep- 


sea  dredgings  and  also  of  the  chalk.    These  bodies 
occur  dispersed   in   the   limestone,  arranged  in  thin 
layers  parallel  to  the  bedding  or  sometimes  in  the 
large  chamber-cavities  of  Eozoon.     They  are  so  vari- 
able in  size  and  form  that  it  is  not  unlikely  they  may 
be  of  different  origins.     The  most  probable  of  these 
may  be  thus  stated.     First,  they  may  in  some  cases 
be    the  looser  superficial   parts    of    the   surface    of 
Eozoon    broken     up     into    little    groups    of    cells. 
Secondly,   they   may   be   few-celled   germs   or  buds 
given   off    from   Eozoon.      This    would    correspond 
with  what  Carpenter,  and  more  recently  Brady  and 
Lester,   have   observed  in  the  case   of  some  of  the 
larger  of  the   modern  Foraminifera.      Thirdly,  they 
may  be  smaller  Foraminifera,  structurally  allied  to 
Eozoon,   but  in   habit  of  growth   resembling  those 
little  globe-shaped   forms   which,  as  already  stated, 
abound   in   chalk  and   in   the  modern  ocean.     The 
latter  view   I   should   regard   as  highly  probable  in 
the   case  of  many  of  them ;   and  I  have  proposed 
for    them,    in    consequence,    and    as    a    convenient 
name,  Arch(Bospherince,  or  ancient  spherical  animals. 
Carbonaceous  matter  is  rare  in  the  true  Eozoon 
limestones,  and,  as  already  stated,  I  would  refer  the 
Laurentian  graphite  or  plumbago  mainly  to  plants. 

14 


2IO 


RELICS   OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


■<i>  'Uli 


Dr.  Giimbel,  the  Director  of  the  Geological  Sur- 
vey of  Bavaria,  is  one  of  the  most  active  and  widely 
informed  of  European  geologists,  combining  Euro- 
pean knowledge  with  an  extensive  acquaintance 
with  the  larger  and  in  some  respects  more  typical 
areas  of  the  older  rocks  in  America,  and  strati- 
graphical  geology  with  enthusiastic  interest  in  the 
microscopic  structures  of  fossils.  He  at  once,  and 
in  a  most  able  manner,  took  up  the  question  of  the 
application  of  the  discoveries  in  Canada  to  the 
rocks  of  Bavaria.  The  spirit  in  which  he  did  so 
may  be  inferred  from  the  following  extract : — 

"  The  discovery  of  organic  remains  in  the  crystal- 
line limestones  of  the  ancient  gneiss  of  Canada,  for 
which  we  are  indebted  to  the  researches  of  Sir 
William  Logan  and  his  colleagues,  and  to  the 
careful  microscopic  investigations  of  Drs.  Dawson 
and  Carpenter,  must  be  regarded  as  opening  a  new 
era  in  geological  science. 

"This  discovery  overturns  at  once  the  notions 
hitherto  commonly  entertained  with  regard  to  the 
origin  of  the  stratified  primary  limestones,  and  their 
accompanying  gneissic  and  quartzose  strata,  in- 
cluded under  the  general  name  of  primitive  crystal- 
line   schists.      It  shows    us    that    these    crystalline 


! 


CONTEMPORARIES   OF   EOZOON 


21  I 


Stratified  rocks,  of  the  so-called  primary  system, 
are  only  a  backward  prolongation  of  the  chain  of 
fossiliferous  strata ;  the  elements  of  which  were  de- 
posited as  oceanic  sediment,  like  the  clay-slates, 
limestones,  and  sandstones  of  the  Palaeozoic  forma- 
tions, and  under  similar  conditions,  though  at  a 
time  far  more  remote,  and  more  favourable  to  the 
generation  of  crystalline  mineral  compounds. 

"  In  this  discovery  of  organic  remains  in  the 
primary  rocks,  we  hail  with  joy  the  dawn  of  a  new 
epoch  in  the  critical  history  of  these  earlier  forma- 
tions. Already  in  its  light,  the  primeval  geological 
time  is  seen  to  be  everywhere  animated,  and  peopled 
with  new  animal  forms  of  whose  very  existence 
we  had  previously  no  suspicion.  Life,  which  had 
hitherto  been  supposed  to  have  first  appeared  in 
the  Primordial  division  of  the  Silurian  period,  is 
now  seen  to  be  immeasurably  lengthened  beyond 
its  former  limit,  and  to  embrace  in  its  domain  the 
most  ancient  known  portions  of  the  earth's  crust 
It  would  almost  seem  as  if  organic  life  had  been 
awakened  simultaneously  with  the  solidification  of 
the  earth's  crust." 

Giimbel  has  described  from  limestones  of  Lauren- 
tian  age  in  various  parts  of  iLurope  forms  referable 


tl' 

■;jl 


1  iif;  i 
I'll 


i  SBiH 


III 


Ki';ii 


ill. 


Illl 


1^ 


m 
IIP 

ns 

■  '•'■1 

illr; 

M>iiii,:: 

"ii: 

1 
t 

» 

.,1H 


•ilf 

t,      'I' 


212 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


to  Eozoon  or  to  Archaeospherinae,  and  I  have  found 
fragmental  Eozoon  in  specimens  collected  by  Favre 
in  the  supposed  Archaean  nucleus  of  the  Alps. 

Giimbel  also  found  in  the  Finnish  and  Bavarian 
limestones  knotted  chambers,  like  those  of  Went- 
worth  abcwe  mentioned  (Fig.  55),  which  he  regards 
as  belonging  to  some  other  organism  than  Eozoon  ; 
and  flocculi  having  tubes,  pores,  and  reticulations 
which  would  seem  to  point  to  the  presence  of 
structures   akin   to  sponges   or  possibly  remains  of 


Fig.  55. — Archi£ospherin(B  from  Pargas  in  Finland.    (After  Gttmbel.) 

(Magnified.) 

seaweeds.  These  observations  Giimbel  has  ex- 
tended into  other  localities  in  Bavaria  and  Bohemia, 
and  also  in  Silesia  and  Sweden,  establishing  the 
existence  of  Eozoon  fossils  in  all  the  Laurentian 
limestones  of  the  middle  and  north  of  Europe. 

Giimbel  has  further  found  in  beds  overlying  the 
older  Eozoic  series,  and  probably  of  the  same  age 
with  the  Canadian  Huronian,  a  different  species  of 
Eozoon,  with  smaller  and  more  contracted  cham- 
bers, and  still  finer  and  more  crowded  canals.    This, 


i!^      ill 


CONTEMPORARIES  OF  EOZOON 


213 


which  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  distinct  species,  or  at 
least  a  well-marked  varietal  form,  he  has  named 
Eozoon  Bavariciim  (Fi^.  56).  Thus  this  early  intro- 
duction of  life  is  not  peculiar  to  that  old  continent 
which  we  sometimes  call  the  New  World,  but 
applies  to  Europe  as  well,  and  Europe  has  fur- 
nished a  successor  to  Eozoon  in  the  later  Eozoic  or 


Fig.   56.  — .SVi/a //    of  Eozoon    Bavaricum,    with  Serpentine,  Jrom  the 

Crystalline    Limestone  of    the   Hercynian    primitive    Clay-slate 

Formation  at  Hohenberg;  25  diameters  {probably  Huronian). 

(a)  Sparry  carbonate  of  lime,  (b)  Cellular  carbonate  of  lime,  (c)  System  of  tubuli. 
((0  Serpentine  replacing  the  coarser  ordinary  variety,  {e)  Serpentine  and  horn- 
blende replacing  the  finer  variety,  in  the  very  much  contorted  portions. 


^ 


riuronian  period.  In  rocks  of  this  age  in  America, 
after  long  search  and  much  slicing  of  limestones,  I 
have  hitherto  failed  to  find  any  decided  foramini- 
feral  remains  other  than  the  Tudor  and  Madoc 
specimens,  which  may  be  of  this  age.  They  are 
laminated  forms  resembling  Eozoon,  but  I  have 
reason  to  believe  that  their  minute  structure  more 


214 


RELICS   Ol'    I'KIMEVAL   LIFE 


*» 


i  1 


III' 


'»v  ..: 


I 

'   'ml 


Jli 


.lis 


•'-ii 

•  -l»l 

''4 

closely  resembles  that  of  Cryptozoon,  though  it  is 
somewhat  obscure.  If  these  are  really  Huronian 
and  not  Laurentian,  the  Eozoon  from  this  horizon 
does  not  sensibly  differ  from  that  of  the  Lower 
Laurentian. 

We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Matthew,  of  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  who  has  so  greatly  distinguished 
himself  by  his  discoveries  in  the  Cambrian  of  that 
region,  for  some  remarkable  additions  to  the 
contemporaries  of  Eozoon.  One  of  these  is  a 
laminated  body,  like  Eozoon  in  its  general  api-'^ar- 
ance,  but  growing  in  crowded  masses  which  by 
mutual  pressure  become  columnar  (Fig.  57).  In  the 
best  preserved  specimens  each  layer  seems  to  consist 
of  a  thin  lamina  separated  from  its  neighbours  by 
a  finely  granular  mass,  traversed  by  innumerable 
irregular  tubes.  This  recalls  the  structure  of 
Cryptozoon  of  Hall,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  is 
found  in  pre-Cambrian  rocks  in  Colorado,  and 
abounds  in  the  Upper  Cambrian  in  New  York,  in 
Minnesota,  and  in  different  parts  of  Canada,  but 
Archa^ozoon  differs  in  its  form  and  habit  of  growth. 
If  the  Stromatopone  of  the  Ordovician  and  Silu- 
rian are  hydroids,  this  may  also  be  the  case  with 
Cryptozoon  ;  but   so  far   as    its  own    structure    is 


CONTEMPORARIES  Oh'  EOZOON 


215 


concerned,  it  approaclies  most  nearly  to  the  fossils 
known  as  Loftusia  in  the  Carboniferous  and 
later  formations,  and    these   are   generally  regarded 


Fig.  Kf'j.—Archaozoon  Acadieitse,  Matthew.     Diagrammatic  transverse 

and  longitudinal  sections  of  a  small  specimen. 

Specimen  in  Peter  Redpath    Museum. 

as  Foraminiferal.  We  may  thus  have  another 
giant  Foraminiferal  organism  which  contributed  to 
the  building  up  of  rocks  in  the  Laurentian  seas. 
This  discovery  is  also  of  importance  as  connecting 


2l6 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


''He' 


''\hl 

• ''"»«! 

■  'ii 

■•''!< 

1  * 

Pre-Pahcozoic  Rocks  of  Southern  New  Brunswick ^ 
as  tabulated  by  Matthew : — 


z 
< 

I 
o 
oc 
< 


o 

o 

N 

o 


Thickness 
Feet. 

Coastal  series  (or  system),  1872.— 
Grits,  liydromicaschists,  argillites,  etc.  ; 
resembling  the  Pebidian  rocks  of  Dr.  H. 
Hicks 10,000 

COLDHROOK    SERIES   (OR   SYSTEM),    1 805. — 

Dioritcs,    felsites,     petrosilex,    etc.  ;    re- 
sembling   the    Arvonian    rocks    of    Dr. 
Hicks.     Thickness  more  than    ....    15,000' 
Upper  series  (or  system)  of  Lauren- 

TIAN,    1872. 

Upper  division.  —  Argillites,  lime- 
stones, graphitic  shales.  Fossils.  In 
upper  part  of  the  upper  limestones  of  the 
South  basin,  fragmental  Eozoott,  observed 
by  Sir  J.  W.  Dawson  in  specimens  sent 
him.  In  middle  of  upper  limestones  in 
Middle  basin,  spicules  of  sponges.  In 
graphitic  shale  of  South  basin,  spicules 
of  Halichondritcs  graphHiferus.  In  low- 
est limestone  of  the  Middle  basin,  the 
reef  of  columnar  fossils  described  as 
Archa^ozoon  .  740 

Middle  division.  —  Quartzites,  sili- 
cious  schists,  Fossils  Cyathospongia  (?) 
eozoica  near  the  top  of  this  division  .     .        450 

Lower    division.  —  Limestones    and 

gneisses.     No  Fossils  known 260' 

Lower  series  of  Laurentian.— 
Gneisses,  Micaschists,  etc ? 


*  The  above  thicknesses  are  on  the  authority  of  Dr.  L. 
W.  Bailey.    Report  Progress  Geological  Survey  Canada^  1879, 


:=  ■«> 


5     <-  -. 

"»        i       ■/. 


i/: 


5)  .2 


VUIW!  WWUUjwHiiauwit'"  I  ip  I 


*w 


■>4| 


'■**,;. 


i 


CONTEMPORARIES    OF    EOZOON 


517 


Eozoon  through  Cryptozoon  with  large  organisms, 
probably  Protozoa,  extending  upward  to  the  top  of 
the  Cambrian,  and  thus  forming  a  link  of  connec- 
tion between  the  life  of  the  Eozoic  and  that  of 
the  Palaeozoic  period.  Matthew  has  also  described 
forms  which  he  regards  as  spicules  of  sponges  from 
the  Laurentian  of  New  Brunswick.  One  of  these 
seems  to  present  cruciform  needles  forming  square 
areas,  like  the  Protospongia  of  Salter,  from  the  Cam- 
brian. The  other  has  simple  elongate  needle-like 
spicules  arranged  in  bundles.  Matthew  summarizes 
the  rocks  containing  these  fossils  as  in  the  table  on 
p.  216,  in  descending  order,  the  highest  bed  being 
below  the  Etcheminian.^  The  first  and  second 
groups,  it  will  be  observed,  are  equivalent  to  the 
Huronian  ;  the  third  corresponds  to  the  Grenvillian, 
and  the  fourth  to  the  Lower  Laurentian. 


pp.  10,  D.  D.,  and  21,  D.  D.  Dr.  R.  W.  Ells  in  the  same 
Report,  p.  6,  D.,  describes  these  rocks,  sixty  miles  east  of 
St.  John,  as  one  system,  with  a  thickness  of  14,000  feet. 

**  Fuller  descriptions  of  these  rocks  may  be  found  in  Rep. 
Prog.  Geol.  Surv.  of  Canada.,  1872,  pp.  30,  34,  etc. 

^  Bulletin  Nat.    Hist.   Society    of  New    Brunswick^    1890 
where  further  details  are  given  as  to  the  fossils. 


II 


i      1 


Hi 


*l 


'^..||i 


■»'"» 


DIFFICULTIES  AND  OBJECTIONS 


819 


'»   III 


:       -V 

u 

r 

:  m  '=f 


IX 

DIFFICULTIES   AND    OBJECTIONS 

nnHE   active   objectors  to  the  animal   nature  of 
Eozoon  have  been  few,  though  some  of  them 
have    returned    to    the    attack    with    a    pertinacity 
and    determination   which    would   lead   one   to    be- 
lieve that   they  think  the   most   sacred   interests  of 
science    to  be    dependent    on    the    annihilation    of 
this    proto-foraminifer.     I   do  not   propose  here    to 
treat  of  the  objections  in  detail.     I  have  presented 
the    case  of    Eozoon   on   its    own    merits,  and   on 
these  it  must  stand.     I  may  merely  state  that  the 
objectors    strive    to   account    for    the    existence    of 
Eozoon  by  purely  mineral  deposition,  and  that  the 
complicated  changes  which  they  require  to  suppose 
are  perhaps   the  strongest  indirect  evidence  for  the 
necessity  of   regarding    the    structures  as    organic. 
The    reader  who    desires    to  appreciate    this    may 
consult  my  memoir  of  1888.* 


•  Also  Rowney  and  King's  papers  in  Journal  Geological 
Society^  August,  1866 ;  and  Proceedings  Irish  Academy,  1870 
and  1 87 1. 

821 


f 


222 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


;if| 

■  \ 


I 


■'I 


»>^ 


S^^ii  ij 


I  confess  that  I  feel  disposed  to  treat  very  ten- 
derly the  position  of  objectors.  The  facts  I  have 
stated  make  large  demands  on  the  faith  of  the 
greater  part  even  of  naturalists.  Very  few  geolo- 
gists or  naturalists  have  much  knowledge  of  the 
structure  of  foraminiferal  shells,  or  would  be  able 
under  the  microscope  to  recognise  them  with  cer- 
tainty. Nor  have  they  any  distinct  ideas  of  the 
appearances  of  such  structures  under  different 
kinds  of  preservation  and  mineralization.  Further, 
they  have  long  been  accustomed  to  regard  the  so- 
called  Azoic  or  Archaean  rocks  as  not  only  desti- 
tute of  organic  remains,  but  as  being  in  such  a 
state  of  metamorphism  that  these  could  not  have 
been  preserved  had  they  existed.  Few,  therefore, 
are  able  intelligently  to  decide  for  themselves,  and 
so  they  are  called  on  to  trust  to  the  investigations 
of  others,  and  on  their  testimony  to  modify  in  a 
marked  degree  their  previous  beliefs  as  to  the 
duration  of  life  on  our  planet.  In  these  circum- 
stances it  is  rather  wonderful  that  the  researches 
made  with  reference  to  Eozoon  have  met  with  so 
general  acceptance,  and  that  the  resurrection  of 
this  ancient  inhabitant  of  the  earth  has  not 
aroused  more  of  the  sceptical  tendency  of  our  age. 


DIFFICULTIES  AND  OBJECTIONS 


223 


It  must  not  be  lost  sight  of,  however,  that   in 
such    cases    there    may  exist    a    large    amount  of 
undeveloped     and     even     unconscious     scepticism, 
which    shows   itself   not   in    active    opposition,   but 
merely  in   quietly  ignoring   this  great  discovery,  or 
regarding    it   with   doubt,   as   an    uncertain   or   un- 
established  point   in    science.      Such    scepticism    is 
especially  to  be  expected  on  the  part  of  the  many 
enthusiastic    students    of  petrography  who   are    ac- 
customed to  regard  rocks  merely  as  mineral  aggre- 
gates, and  even  to  have  their  slices   prepared   in   a 
manner  which   scarcely  permits   organic  remains  of 
present  to  be  distinguished.      Such  students  should 
consider  that   the  discovery   of  Eozoon  brings   the 
rocks   of   the    Laurentian    system    into    more    full 
harmony  with   the   other  geological  formations.      It 
explains  the  origin  of  the  Laurentian  limestones  in 
consistency  with   that  of  similar  rocks  in  the  later 
periods,   and   in   like   manner    it    helps    us    to    ac- 
count   for    the    graphite    and    sulphides    and    iron 
ores  of  these  old  rocks.     It  shows  us  that  no  time 
was   lost   in   the  introduction  of  life  on  the  earth. 
Otherwise  there  would   have  been  a  vast  lapse   of 
time  in  which,  while  the  conditions  suitable  to  life 
were  probably  present,   no   living   thing  existed  to 


224 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


'•''1 

'.,1 

"I 


'V    ur 


"I 


;:! 


I'  I 


U' 


take  advantage  of  these  conditions.  Further,  it 
gives  a  more  simple  beginning  of  Hfe  than  that 
afforded  by  the  more  complex  fauna  of  the  Cam- 
brian age ;  and  this  is  more  in  accordance  with 
what  we  know  of  the  slow  and  gradual  introduc- 
tion of  new  forms  of  living  things  during  the  vast 
periods  of  Palaeozoic  time.  In  connection  with  this, 
it  opens  a  new  and  promising  field  of  observation 
in  the  older  rocks  ;  and  if  this  should  prove  fertile, 
its  exploration  may  afford  a  vast  harvest  of  new 
forms  to  the  geologists  of  the  present  and  coming 
time.  This  result  will  be  in  entire  accordance  with 
what  has  taken  place  before  in  the  history  of 
geological  discovery.  I  can  myself  remember  a 
time  when  the  old  and  semi-metamorphic  sedi- 
ments constituting  the  great  Cambrian  system 
were  massed  together  in  geological  classifications 
as  primitive  or  primary  rocks,  destitute  or  nearly 
destitute  of  organic  remains.  The  brilliant  dis- 
coveries of  Sedgwick,  Murchison,  Barrande,  and 
a  host  of  others,  have  peopled  these  once  barren 
regions  ;  and  they  now  stretch  before  our  wonder- 
ing gaze  in  the  long  vistas  of  early  Paheozoic  life. 
So  we  now  look  out  from  the  Cambrian  shore 
upon  the  ocean  of  the  Etcheminian,  the  Huroniaiii 


< 


DIFFICULTIES  AND  OBJECTIONS 


225 


and  the  Laurentian— all  to  us  yet  almost  tenant- 
less,  except  for  the  few  organisms  which,  like  stray 
shells  cast  upon  the  beach,  or  a  far-off  land  dimly 
seen   in   the   distance,   incite   to   further    researches, 
and   to   the   exploration   of  the   unknown   treasures 
that  still  lie  undiscovered.     It  would  be  a  suitable 
culmination  of  the  geological  work  of  the  last  half- 
century,    and    one    within    reach    at    least    of   our 
immediate   successors,   to   fill   up   this   great   blank, 
and  to  trace  back  the  Primordial  life  to  the  stage 
of  Eozoon,  and  perhaps  even  beyond  this,  to  pre- 
decessors which  may  have  existed  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Laurentian,  when   the   earliest   sediments  of 
that   great    formation    were   laid   down.     Vast    un- 
explored  areas  of  Laurentian  and   Huronian  rocks 
exist  in  the   Old  World  and  the  New.     The  most 
ample     facilities     for    microscopic     examination    of 
rocks    may   now    be   obtained;    and    I    could   wish 
that   one   result   of  the   publication  of  these  pages 
may   be    to   direct    the   attention   of   some   of   the 
younger  and  more  active  geologists  to  these  fields 
of   investigation.      It   is    to   be   observed   also   that 
such     regions     are    among    the    richest     in    useful 
minerals,   and   there   is   no    reason    why   search   for 
these   fossils   should    not  be  connected   with  other 

15 


226  RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 

and    more    practicall)'    useful    researches.     On    this 
subject   it   will   not   be   out  of  place   to   quote   the 
remarks    which     I    made     in    one    of    my    earlier 
papers  on  the  Laurentian  fossils  ; — 
111*  "  This  subject  opens  up  several    interesting   fields 

of  chemical,  biological,  and  geological  inquiry.     One 
'' |,  of   these    relates    to   the    conclusions  stated  by  Dr. 

.,  I  Hunt    as    to    the    probable    existence    of    a    large 

\ .,  amount   of  carbonic  acid  in  the    Laurentian    atmo- 

,.^  sphere,  and  of  much  carbonate  of  lime  in   the  seas 

'»*  of  that  period,  and  the  possible  relation  of  this  to 

the  abundance  of  certain  low  forms  of  plants   and 
'^'*  animals.      Another   is    the    comparison   already   in- 


'II 

I- 


h»»t* 


'i'0  stituted   by    Professor    Huxley   and   Dr.    Carpenter, 

between  the  conditions  of  the  Laurentian  and  those 


•In; 


>.. 


"I 


of  the  deeper  parts  of  the  modern  ocean.  Another 
is  the  possible  occurrence  of  other  forms  of  animal 
life  than  Protozoa,  which  I  have  stated  in  my 
paper  of  1864,  after  extensive  microscopic  study 
h«   j  of  the   Laurentian   limestones,   to   be   indicated   by 

P2l   1  the  occurrence  of  calcareous  fragments,  differing  in 

structure  from  Eozoon,  but  at  present  of  unknown 
nature.  Another  is  the  effort  to  bridge  over,  by 
further  discoveries  [similar  to  those  of  Cryptozoon 
an4   Avoh^Qloovij,   the   gap   now   existing   between 


I 


L..t. 


,! 


DIFFICULTIES  AND  OBJECTIONS 


227 


the  life  of  the  Lower  Laurentian  and   that  of  the 
Cambrian  period.     It  is  scarcely  too  much   to   say 
that  these  inquiries  open  up  a  new  world  of  thought 
and  investigation,  and  hold  out  the  hope  of  bring- 
ing us  into   the   presence  of  the   actual    origin    of 
organic  life  on  our  planet,  though  this  may  perhaps 
be  found  to  have  been  pre-Laurentian.     I  would  here 
take  the  opportunity  of  repeating  that,  in  proposing 
the  name  Eozoon  for  the  first  fossil  of  the  Lauren- 
tian,  and  in   suggesting  for   the  period    the    name 
•  Eozoic,'  I  have    by   no  means  desired   to  exclude 
the  possibility  of  forms  of  life  which  may  have  been 
precursors  of  what  is  now  to  us  the  dawn  of  organic 
existence.      Should  remains  of  still  older  organisms 
be  found  in  those  rocks  now  known  to  us  only  by 
pebbles    in    the    Laurentian.   these    names    will    at 
least  serve  to  mark  an  important  stage  in  geologi- 
cal  investigation." 

But  what  if  the  result  of  such  investigations  should 
be  to  produce  more  sceptics,  or  to  bring  to  light 
mineral  structures  so  resembling  Eozoon  as  to  throw 
doubt  upon  the  whole  of  the  results  detailed  in 
these  chapters?  I  can  fancy  that  this  might  be 
the  first  consequence,  more  especially  if  the  investi-  ' 
gations  were  those  of  persons  more  conversant  with 


228 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


'4 

m 
W 

m 

'M 


■■>i| 


■•I 


rocks  and  minerals  than  with  fossils ;  but  I  see 
no  reason  to  fear  the  ultimate  results.  In  any  case, 
no  doubt,  the  value  of  the  researches  hitherto  made 
may  be  diminished.  It  is  always  the  fate  of  dis- 
coverers in  Natural  Science,  either  to  be  followed 
by  opponents  who  temporarily  or  permanently  im- 
pucjn  or  destroy  the  value  of  their  new  facts,  or  by 
other  investij^ators  who  push  on  the  knowledge 
of  facts  and  principles  so  far  beyond  their  stand- 
point that  the  original  discoveries  are  cast  into  the 
shade.  This  is  a  fatality  incident  to  the  progress 
of  scientific  work,  from  which  no  man  can  be  free  ; 
and  in  so  far  as  such  matters  are  concerned,  we 
must  all  be  content  to  share  the  fate  of  the  old 
fossils  whose  history  we  investigate,  and,  having 
served  our  day  and  generation,  to  give  place  to 
others.  If  any  part  of  our  work  should  stand  the 
fire  of  discussion,  let  us  be  thankful.  One  thing 
at  least  is  certain,  that  such  careful  surveys  as  those 
in  the  Laurentian  rocks  of  Canada  which  led  to 
the  discovery  of  Eozoon,  and  such  microscopic  ex- 
aminations as  those  by  which  it  has  been  worked 
up  and  presented  to  the  public,  cannot  fail  to  yield 
good  results  of  one  kind  or  another.  Already  the 
attention  excited  by  the  controversies  about  Eozoon, 


M-  ; 


DIFFICULTIES  AND  OBJECTIONS 


22iJ 


by  attracting   investigators  to  the  study  of  various 
microscopic  and  imitative  forms  in   rocks,  has  pro- 
moted    the   advancement   of    knowledge,   and   must 
do  so  still   more.     For  my  own  part,  though   I  am 
not  content  to  base  all  my  reputation  on  such  work 
as  I  have  done  with  respect  to  this  old  fossil— which, 
indeed,  was  merely   an   interlude  into  which    I   was 
led   by   the   urgency    of    my   friend    Logan—I    am 
willing   at   least  to   take   the   responsibility    of   the 
results  I  have  announced,  whatever  conclusions  may 
be  finally   reached  ;  and  in  the  consciousness  of  an 
honest   effort   to   extend    the   knowledge   of  nature, 
to    look  forward    to    a    better   fame    than  any  that 
could  result   from   the  most  successful    and  perma- 
nent vindication   of  every   detail    of    our    scientific 
discoveries,  even  if  they  could  be  pushed  to  a  point 
which    no    subsequent    investigation     in    the    same 
difficult   line    of  research   would    be    able    to   over- 
pass. 

Contenting  myself  with  these  general  remarks,  I 
shall  close  this  chapter  with  a  short  summaiy  of 
the  reasons  which  may  be  adduced  in  support  of 
,  the  animal  nature  of  Eozoon,  prefaced  by  an  ideal 
restoration  of  it  in  the  supposition  that  it  was  a 
rhizopod  (Fig.  58). 


230 


RELICS  OF   TRIMEVAL  LIFE 


•i  *'i 
"'I 


III 


i|^ 


In  doing  so,  I  shall  merely  sum  up  the  evidence 
as  it  has  been  presented  by  Sir  W.  E.  Logan,  Dr. 


/  /  i  '■ 


( 1      !■  /  /    ••• 


Fig.  58. — Restoration  of  Eozoon    as  a  generalized  Foraminiferal 

Organism  {enlarged). 

Showing  endosarc,  exosarc,  and  pseudopods,  and  the  calcareous  skeleton 

with  its  canals. 

Carpenter,  Dr.  Hunt,  and  the  author,  in  a  short 
and  intelligible  form ;  and  I  shall  do  so  under  a 
few  brief  heads,  with  some  explanatory  remarks : — 


I 


DIFFICULTIES  AND  OBJECTIONS 


231 


f 


I.  The  Upper  Laurentian  of  Canada,  a  rock  forma- 
tion whose  distribution,  age,  and  structure  have  been 
carefully  worked   out   in   several   extensive   districts 
by  the  Canadian  Survey,  is  found  to  contain  thick 
and   widely  distributed   beds    of    limestone,   related 
to  the  other  beds  in  the  same  way  in  which  lime- 
stones  occur  in   the   sediments   of  other   geological 
formations.     There   also   occur   in   the  same  forma- 
tion, graphite,  iron  ores,  and  metallic  sulphides,   in 
such  relations  as  to  suggest  the  idea  that  the  lime- 
stones as  well  as  these  other  minerals  are  of  organic 
origin. 

2.  In  the  limestones  are  found  laminated  bodies 
of  definite  form  and  structure,  composed  of  calcite 
alternating  with  serpentine  and  other  minerals.  The 
forms  of  these  bodies  suggested  a  resemblance  to 
the  Silurian  Stromatoporae,  and  the  different  mineral 
substances  associated  with  the  calcite  in  the  pro- 
duction of  similar  forms  showed  that  these  were 
not  accidental  or  concretionary. 

3.  On  microscopic  examination,  it  proved  that 
the  calcareous  laminae  of  these  forms  were  similar 
in  structure  to  the  shells  of  modern  and  fossil  Fora- 
minifera,  more  especially  those  of  the  Rotaline  and 
Nummuline   types,   and    that    the    finer    structures, 


232 


RELICS   OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


'II » : 


.'lit 


'•«•: 


•i 


though  usually  filled  with  serpentine  and  other 
hydrous  silicates,  were  sometimes  occupied  with 
calcite,  pyroxene,  or  dolomite,  showing  that  they 
must  when  recent  have  been  empty  canals  and 
tubes. 

4.  The  mode  of  filling  thus  suggested  for  the 
chambers  and  tubes  of  Eozoon  is  precisely  that 
which  takes  place  in  modern  Foraminifera  filled 
with  glauconite,  and  in  Palaeozoic  crinoids  and 
corals  filled  with  other  hydrous  silicates,  all  more 
or  less  chemically  allied  to  serpentine. 

5.  The  type  of  growth  and  structure  predicated 
of  Eozoon  from  the  observed  appearances,  in  its 
great  size,  its  laminated  and  acervuline  forms,  and 
in  its  canal  system  and  tubulation,  are  not  only  in 
conformity  with  those  of  other  Foraminifera,  but 
such  as  might  be  expected  in  a  very  ancient  form 
of  that  group. 

6.  Indications  exist  of  other  organic  bodies  in 
the  limestones  containing  Eozoon,  and  also  of  the 
Eozoon  being  preserved  not  only  in  reefs  but  in 
drifted  fragmental  beds  as  in  the  case  of  modern 
corals. 

7.  Similar  organic  structures  have  been  found  in 
the   Laurentian   limestones   of    Massachusetts,   New 


DIFFICULTIES  AND   OBJECTIONS 


^35 


York,  Brazil/  and  also  in  those  of  various  parts 
of  Europe,  and  Dr.  Giimbel  has  found  an  addi- 
tional species  in  rocks  succeeding  the  Laurentian. 

8.  The  manner  in  which  the  structures  of  Eozoon 
are  effected  by  the  faulting,  development  of  crystals, 
mineral  veins,  and  other  effects  of  disturbance  and 
metamorphism  in  the  containing  rocks,  is  precisely 
that  which  might  be  expected  on  the  supposition 
that  it  is  of  organic  origin. 

9.  The  exertions  of  several  active  and  able  op- 
ponents have  failed  to  show  how,  otherwise  than 
by  organic  agency,  such  structures  as  those  of 
Eozoon  can  be  formed,  except  on  the  supposition 
of  pseudo-morphism  and  replacement,  which  must 
be  regarded  as  chemically  extravagant,  and  wh'ch 
would  equally  impugn  the  validity  of  all  fossils 
determined  by  microscopic  structure.  In  like 
manner  all  comparisons  of  these  structures  with 
dendritic  and  other  imitative  forms  have  signally 
failed,  in  the  opinion  of  those  best  qualified  to 
judge. 

Another  and  perhaps  simpler  way  of  putting  the 
case  is  the  following : — Only  four  general  modes  of 
accounting  for  the  existence  of  Eozoon  have  been 
•  Fragmental  ;  specimens  from  J.  A.  Derby,  Esq. 


234  RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


'I 
•i 

II 


111 


'»%; 


proposed.     The  first  is  that  of  Professors  King  and 
V  Rowney,  who  regard  the  chambers  and  canals  filled 

with  serpentine  as  arising  from  the  erosion  or  partial 
dissolving   away  of  serpentine   and  its  replacement 

"V  by  calcite.     The   objections   to   this   are  conclusive. 

It  does  not  explain    the  fine    tubulation,  which  has 

I  ,        to  be   separately  accounted   for  by  confounding   it, 

I  contrary   to   the   observed   facts,  with   the   veins   of 

'*|;  fibrous     serpentine    which     actually    pass     through 

cracks  in  the  fossil.  Such  replacement  is  in  the 
highest  degree  unlikely  on  chemical  grounds,  and 
there  is  no  evidence  of  it  in  the  numerous  serpen- 
tine grains,  nodules,  and  bands  in  the  Laurentian 
limestones.  On  the  other  hand,  the  opposite  re- 
placement, that  of  limestone  by  serpentine,  seems 
to  have  occurred.  The  mechanical  difficulties  in 
accounting  for  the  delicate  canals  on  this  theory  are 
also  insurmountable.  Finally,  it  does  not  account 
for  the  specimens  preserved  in  pyroxene  and  other 
silicates,  and  in  dolomite  and  calcite.  A  second 
mode  of  accounting  for  the  facts  is  that  the  Eozoon 
forms  are  merely  peculiar  concretions.  But  this 
fails  to  account  for  their  great  difference  from  the 
other  serpentine  concretions  in  the  same  beds,  and 
for  their  regularity  of  plan  and  the  delicacy  of  their 


i 


I 


,  i 


T 


i 


DIFFICULTIES  AND  OBJECTIONS 


235 


Structure,  and   also   for   minerals  of  different   kinds 
entering  into  their  composition,  and  still  presenting 
precisely  the  same  forms  and  structures.     The  third 
is  that  first  suggested,  I  think,  by  Jullien,  and  later 
by  Gregory  and    Lavis,  that   the  forms  are  merely 
banded  alternations  of  calcite  with  silicious  minerals 
similar  to  those  observed  at  the  junction  of  igneous 
rocks   and   limestones.     To  this  it   may  be   replied 
that  there  is   really  only  an  apparent  resemblance, 
which,  on  careful  examination,  proves  to  be  illusory ; 
that  it  does  not  account  for  the  canals  and  tubuli, 
and  that  studies  of  such  banded  rocks  from  several 
regions  have    been   made   by   competent   observers, 
who  have  distinguished   these  from  the  Laurentian 
Eozoon.     The  only  remaining  theory  is  that  of  the 
filling    of   cavities   by   infiltration    with    serpentine. 
This  accords  with  the  fact  that  such  infiltration  by 
minerals  akin  to  serpentine  exists  in  fossils  in  later 
rocks.     It    also  accords    with   the    known    aqueous 
origin   of   the  serpentine    nodules  and    bands,   the 
veins  of  fibrous  serpentine,  and  the  other  minerals 
found    filling    the   cavities    of  Eozoon.      Even    the 
pyroxene  has  been  shown  by  Hunt  to  exist  in  the 
Laurentian   in   veins  of  aqueous   origin.     The  only 
difficulty  existing    on  this    view  is   how  a    calcite 


'i 


'n 


2^6  RELICS   OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 

skeleton  with  such  chambers,  canals,  and  tubuli 
could  be  formed  ;  and  this  is  solved  by  the  dis- 
covery that  all  these  facts  correspond  precisely  with 
those  to  be  found  in  the  shells  of  modern  oceanic 
nil  Foraminifera.     The    existence,  then,  of  Eozoon,   its 

***  structure,  and  its  relations  to  the  containing   rocks 

''j  and  minerals  being  admitted,  no  rational    explana- 

„j  tion  of  its  origin   seems   at    present   possible   other 

'V|  than  that  advocated  in  the  preceding  pages. 

If  the  reader  will  now  turn  to  the  fierures  in  the 
'••  illustration  on   the  opposite   page  (Fig.   59),  he  will 

find  a  selection  of  examples  bearing  on   the  above 
'"*  arguments  and  objections.     Fig,  i   represents  a  por- 

i  tion  of  a  very  thin  slice  of  a  specimen  traversed  by 

'  veins  of  fibrous  serpentine  or  chrysotile,  and  having 

the  calcite  of  the   walls  more   broken   by  cleavage 

planes  than  usual.    The  portion  selected  shows  a  part 

^!  of  one  of  the  chambers  filled  with  serpentine,  which 

|>^*j  presents  the  usual  curdled  aspect  almost  impossible 

J  to  represent  in  a  drawing  (s).      It  is  traversed  by  a 

branching  vein  of  chrysotile  (/),  which,   where   cut 

precisely  parallel  to  its  fibres,  shows  clear  fine  cross 

•>(^  lines,  indicating  the  sides  of  its  constituent  prisms, 

and  where  the  plane  of  section  has  passed  obliquely 
to  its  fibres,  has  a  curiously  stippled  or  frowsy  ap- 


1 


'«* 


■I 


X    60 

Fig.  59- — Figures  of  various  Structures  and  States  of  Preservation. 

i' ._.    I. — Portion  of  two  laminae  and  intervening  serpentine,  with  clirysotile  vein. 

id)  Proper  wall   tubnlaicil.        (b)   Intermediate   skeleton,    with    large   canals. 

(c    Openings  of  small   chamberlets   filled   with    serpentine.         (s)   Serpentine 

filling   chamber.       (i')    Vein    of  chrysotile,   showing   its   difference   from   the 

proper  wall. 
Fig.  2. — Junction  of  a  canal  and  the  proper  wall.     Lettering  as  in  Fig.  i. 
Fig.  3. — Proper  wall  shifted  by  a  fault,  and  more  recent  chrysotile  vein  not  faulted. 

Lettering  as  in  Fig.  i. 
Fig.  4. — Large  and  small  canals  filled  with  dolomite. 
Fig.  5. — Abnormally  thick  portion  of  intermediate  skeleton,  with  large  tubes  and 

small  canals  filled  with  dolomite. 

237 


If 


I 


:;> 


1^^. 


DIFFICULTIES  AND   OBJECTIONS  239 


pearance.     On  either  side  of  the  serpentine  band  is 
the  nummuline  or  proper  wall,  showing  under  a  low 
power   a   milky   appearance,   which,   with    a   higher 
power,  becomes  resolved  into  a  tissue  of  the  most 
beautiful  parallel  threads,  representing  the  filling  of 
its  tubuli.     Nothing  can  be  more  distinct  than   the 
appearances   presented  by  this  wall   and   a  chryso- 
tile  vein,  under  every  variety  of  magnifying  power 
and  illumination  ;  and  all   who  have  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  examining  my  specimens  have  expressed 
astonishment  that  appearances  so  dissimilar  should 
have    been   confounded    with    each   other.     On    the 
lower  side  two  indentations  are  seen  in  the  proper 
wall  (c).      These   are   connected  with   the   openings 
into  small  subordinate  chamberlets,  one  of  which  is 
in   part  included  in  the  thickness  of  the  slice.     At 
the  upper  and    lower   parts   of  the  figure   are  seen 
portions  of  the  intermediate  skeleton    traversed  by 
canals,    which    in    the    lower   part    are   very    lar^re, 
though   from  the  analogy  of  other  specimens  it   is 
probable  that  they  have  in  their  interstices,  and  at 
their   branching   extremities,    minute   canaliculi    not 
visible  in  this  slice.     Fig.  2,  from  the  same  specimen, 
shows  the  termination  of  one  of  the  canals  against 
the  proper  wall,  its  end  expanding  into  a  wide  disc 


240  RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


of  sarcode  on  the  surface  of  the  wall,  as  may  be 
seen  in  similar  structures  in  modern  Foraminifera. 
In  this  specimen  the  canals  are  beautifully  smooth 
and  cylindrical,  but  they  sometimes  present  a 
I  knotted   or  jointed  appearance,  especially  in   speci- 

mens  decalcified  by  acids,  in  which  perhaps   some 
*'|  erosion  has  taken  place.     They  are  also  occasionally 

.,1  fringed    with    minute    crystals,   especially   in    those 

*\<  specimens   in   which   the  calcite   has  been   partially 

replaced    with    other    minerals.      Fig.    3   shows    an 
ill 

•'•  example  of  faulting  of  the  proper  wall,  an  appear- 

ance not  infrequently  observed ;  and  it  also  shows  a 
vein  of  chrysotile  crossing  the  line  of  fault,  and  not 
itself  affected  by  it — a  clear  evidence  of  its  posterior 
origin.     Figs.  4  and   5  are  examples   of  specimens 

'w  having  the  canals  filled  with  dolomite,  and  showing 

extremely  fine  canals  in  the  interstices  of  the  others: 
an  appearance  observed  only  in  the  thicker  parts  of 
the  skeleton,  and    when   these  are  very  well  pre- 

)  served.     These   dolomitized    portions    require   some 

precautions  for  their  observation,  either  in  slices  or 
decalcified  specimens,  but   when   properly  managed 

'•vm  1^ 

\  they  show  the  structures   in  very  great   perfection. 

The  specimen  in  Fig.  5  is  from  an  abnormally  thick 
portion  of  intermediate  skeleton,  having   unusually 


I 


DIFFICULTIES  AND  OBJECTIONS 


241 


thick  canals,  and  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter. 
Such  additional  peculiarities  and  specialties  might  be 
multiplied  to  any  extent  from  the  numerous  prepared 
specimens  now  in  our  collections. 

One  object  which  I  have  in  view  in  thus  minutely 
directing  attention  to  these  illustrations,  is  to  show 
the  nature  of  the  misapprehensions  which  may  occur 
in    examining  specimens   of  this   kind,  and   at   the 
same   time    the   certainty   which    may   be    attained 
when    proper   precautions    are   taken.     I    may   add 
that   such   structures   as   those  referred   to   are  best 
seen  in  extremely  thin  slices,  and  that  the  observer 
must   not   expect  that  every  specimen  will   exhibit 
them   equally   well.     It   is   only   by   preparing    and 
examining  many  specimens  that  the  best  results  can 
be  obtained.     It  often  happens  that  one  specimen  is 
required   to   show   well  one   part  of  the  structures, 
and  a  different  one  to  show  another;  and  previous 
to  actual  trial,  it  is  not  easy  to  say  which  portion 
of  the  structures  any  particular  fragment  will  .show 
most  clearly.     This  renders  it  somewhat  difficult  to 
supply  one's  friends   with   specimens.     Really  good 
slices  can  be  prepared  only  from  the  best  material 
and  by  skilled  manipulators;  imperfect  slices   may 
only   mislead;   and   rough   specimens    may  not    be 

16 


242  RELICS   UI'    rklMLVAL   LIl'E 


Hi 


properly  prepared  by  persons  unaccustomed  to  the 
work,  or  if  so  prepared,  may  not  turn  out  satisfac- 
tory, or  may  not  be  skilfully  examined.  One  slice 
heated  in  the  grinding  may  show  nothing  but  cleav- 
age in  the  calcite  layers,  while  an  adjoining  one 
more  carefully  prepared  may  show  beautiful  canals. 
These  difficulties,  however,  Eozoon  shares  with  other 
specimens  in  micro-geology,  and  I  have  experienced 
similar  disappointments  in  the  case  of  fossil  wood. 
In  conclusion  of  this  part  of  the  subject,  and 
referring  to  the  notes  appended  to  this  work  for 
some  further  details,  I  would  express  the  hope  that 
those  who  have  hitherto  opposed  the  interpretation  of 
Eozoon  as  organic,  and  to  whose  ability  and  honesty 
of  purpose  I  willingly  bear  testimony,  will  find 
themselves  enabled  to  acknowledge  at  least  the 
reasonable  probability  of  that  interpretation  of  these 
remarkable  forms  and  structures. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  LIFE 


213 


fjl 


I 

it* 


'1 
'J 


'•ti  ■ 


"I  I  '!i: 


1 
I 

\\    :    III   'I 


'•^ 


>l«j 


"I 

"i 

i 

4-« 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  LIFE 

n^HE  thoughts  suggested  to  the  philosophical 
naturalist  by  the  contemplation  of  the  dawn 
of  life  on  our  planet  are  necessarily  many  and  ex- 
citing, and  the  subject  has  in  it  the  materials  for 
enabling  the  general  reader  better  to  judge  of  some 
of  the  theories  of  the  origin  of  life  agitated  in  our 
time.  Let  us  then  put  Eozoon  into  the  witness-box, 
and  try  to  elicit  its  testimony  as  to  the  beginnings  of 
life  ;  supposing  for  the  moment  that  it  is  really  an 
animal,  and  not  a  mere  pretender ;  though  even  in 
that  case,  it  might  serve  to  represent  the  first  animal, 
whatever  it  may  have  been. 

Looking  down  from  the  elevation  of  our  physio- 
logical and  mental  superiority,  it  is  difficult  to  realize 
the  exact  conditions  in  which  life  exists  in  creatures 
so  simple  as  the  Trotozoa.  There  may  perhaps  be 
higher  intelligences  that  find  it  equally  difficult  to 
realize  how  life  and  reason  can  manifest  themselves 
in  such  poor  houses  of  chi)'  as  those  we  inhabit.  Ikit 
placing  ourselves  near  to  these  creatures,  and  entering 


246 


RELICS  OF   rRIMlOVAL   LIFE 


u 


1 

it* 


III 


')« 


•».»■ 


■'li 


w 


h ' 


I, 


as  it  were  into  sympathy  with  them,  we  can  under- 
stand something  of  their  powers  and  feelings.  In 
the  first  place,  it  is  plain  that  they  can  vigorously, 
if  roughly,  exercise  those  mechanical,  chemical,  and 
vegetative  powers  of  life  which  are  characteristic  of 
the  animal.  They  can  seize,  swallow,  digest,  and 
assimilate  food  ;  and,  employing  its  albuminous  parts 
in  nourishing  their  tissues,  can  burn  away  the  rest  in 
processes  akin  to  our  respiration,  or  reject  it  from 
their  system.  Like  us,  they  can  subsist  only  on  food 
which  the  plant  has  previously  produced  ;  for  in  this 
world,  from  the  beginning  of  time,  the  plant  has  been 
the  only  organism  which  could  use  the  solar  light  and 
heat  as  forces  to  enable  it  to  turn  the  dead  elements 
of  matter  into  living,  growing  tissues,  and  into  or- 
ganic compounds  capable  of  nourishing  the  animal. 
Like  us,  the  Protozoa  expend  the  food  which  they 
have  assimilated  in  the  production  of  animal  force, 
and  in  doing  so  cause  it  to  be  oxidized,  or  burnt 
away,  and  resolved  again  into  dead  matter.  It  is 
true  that  we  have  much  more  complicated  apparatus 
for  performing  these  functions,  but  it  does  not  follow 
that  this  gives  us  much  real  superiority,  evrept  rela- 
tively to  the  more  difficult  conditions  of  our  existence. 
The  gourmand  who  enjoys  his  dinner  may  have  no 


i  '\ 


■t- 


tHE  ORIGIN   OF  LIFE 


M7 


*> 


more   pleasure   in    the  act  than   the  Amoeba  which 
swallows  a  Diatom  ;  and  for  all  that  the  man  knows 
of  the   subsequent   processes    to  which    the  food   is 
subjected,  his  interior  might  be  a  mass  of  jelly,  with 
extemporised  vacuoles,  like  that  of  his  humble  fellow- 
animal.     The  workman  or  the  athlete  has  bones  and 
muscles  of  vastly  complicated  structure,  but  to  him 
the   muscular   act   is   as   simple   and  unconscious   a 
process  as  the  sending  out  of  a  pseudopod  to  a  Pro- 
tozoon.     The  clay  is  after  all  the  same,  and  there 
may  be  as  much  credit  to  the  artist  in  making  a 
simple    organism    with   varied    powers,   as    a    more 
complex  frame  for  doing  nicer  work.     It  is  a  weak- 
ness of  humanity  to  plume  itself  on  advantages  not  of 
its  own  making,  and  to  treat  its  superior  gifts  as  if 
they  were   the   result  of  its  own  endeavours.      The 
truculent  traveller  who  illustrated  his  boast  of  superi- 
ority over  the  Indian  by  comparing  his  rifle  with  the 
bow  and  arrows  of  the  savage,  was  well  answered  by 
the  question,  "  Can  you  make  a  rifle  ? "  and  when  he 
had  to  answer,  "  No,"  by  the  rejoinder,  "  Then  I  am 
at  least  better  than  you,  for  I  can  make  my  bow  and 
ariows."     The  Amoiba  or  the  Eozoon  is  probably  no 
more  than  we  its  own  creator ;  but  if  it  could  produce 
itself  out  of  vegetable   matter,  or  out  of  inorganic 


248 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


I,  w 

'h 
'11' 


III 


H%! 


16 


44'i. 

i 


:  I'l 


*tm> 


«.  »k. 


.   ■       1 

! 

5 

iL. 

substances,  it  might  claim  in  so  far  a  higher  place  in 
the  scale  of  being  than  we  ;  and  as  it  is,  it  can  assert 
equal  powers  of  digestion,  assimilation,  and  motion, 
with  much  less  of  bodily  mechanism. 

In  order  that  we  may  feel,  a  complicated  apparatus 
of  nerves  and  brain-cells  has  to  be  constructed  and 
set  to  work  ;  but  the  Protozoon,  without  any  distinct 
brain,  is  all  brain,  and  its  sensation  is  simply  direct. 
Thus  vision  in  these  creatures  is  probably  performed 
in  a  rough  way  by  any  part  of  their  transparent 
bodies,  and  taste  and  smell  are  no  doubt  in  the  same 
case.  Whether  they  have  any  perception  of  sound 
as  distinct  from  the  mere  vibrations  ascertained  by 
touch,  we  do  not  know.  Here  also  we  are  not  far 
removed  above  the  Protozoa,  especially  those  of  us 
to  whom  touch,  seeing,  and  hearing  are  mere  feelings, 
without  thought  or  knowledge  of  the  apparatus  em- 
ployed. We  might  so  far  as  well  be  Amcebas.  As 
we  rise  higher  we  meet  with  more  differences.  Yet  it 
is  evident  that  our  gelatinous  fellow-being  can  feel 
pain,  dread  danger,  desire  possessions,  enjoy  pleasure, 
and  in  a  simple,  unconscious  way  entertain  many  of 
the  appetites  and  passions  that  affect  ourselves.  The 
wonder  is  that  with  so  little  of  organization  it  can  do 
so  much.     Yet,  perhaps,  life  can  manifest  itself  in  a 


-f 


THE  ORIGIN   OF  LIFE 


249 


t 


broader  and  more  intense  way  where  there  is  little 
organization ;  and  a  highly  strung  and  complex 
organism  is  not  so  much  a  necessary  condition  of  a 
higher  life  as  a  mere  means  of  better  adapting  it  to 
its  present  surroundings.  Those  philosophies  which 
identify  the  thinking  mind  with  the  material  organ- 
ism, must  seem  outrageous  blunders  to  an  Amceba 
on  the  one  hand,  or  to  an  angel  on  the  other,  could 
either  be  enabled  to  understand  them  ;  which,  how- 
ever, is  not  very  probable,  as  they  are  too  intimately 
bound  up  with  the  mere  prejudices  incident  to  the 
present  condition  of  our  humanity.  In  any  case,  the 
Protozoa  teach  us  how  much  of  animal  function  may 
be  fulfilled  by  a  very  simple  organism,  and  warn 
us  against  the  fallac)-  that  creatures  of  this  simple 
structure  are  necessarily  nearer  to  inorganic  matter, 
and  more  easily  developed  from  it  than  beings  of 
more  complex  mould. 

A  similar  lesson  is  taught  by  the  complexity  of 
their  skeletons.  We  speak  in  a  crude,  unscientific 
way  of  these  animals  accumulating  calcareous  matter, 
and  building  up  reefs  of  limestone.  We  must,  how- 
ever, bear  in  mind  that  they  are  as  dependent  on 
their  food  for  the  materials  of  their  skeletons  as  we 
are,  and  that  their  crusts  grow  in  the  interior  of  the 


M 


250 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


I 


'»*( 


sarcode  just  as  our  bones  do  within  our  bodies.     The 
provision   even    for   nourishing    the   interior   of    the 
skeleton  by  tubuli  and  canals  is  in  principle  similar 
to  that  involved  in  the  Haversian  canals,  cells,  and 
canalicules  of  bone.     The  Protozoon  of  course  knows 
neither    more    nor  less   of   this    than   the    average 
Englishman.      It   is  altogether  a   matter  of  uncon- 
scious growth.     The  process  in  the  Protozoa  strikes 
some  minds,  however,  as  the  more  wonderful  of  the 
two.     It  is,  says  an  eminent  modern  physiologist,  a 
matter  of  "  profound  significance  ''  that  this  "  particle 
of  jelly  [the  sarcode  of  a  Foraminifer]  is  capable  of 
guiding  physical  forces  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give 
rise  to  these   exquisite   and   almost  mathematically 
arranged     structures."       Respecting     the    structures 
themselves,  there   is  no  exaggeration   in   this.      No 
arch  or  dome  framed  by  human  skill  is  more  perfect 
in  beauty  or  in   the  realization  of  mechanical  ideas 
than  the  tests  of  some  Foraminifera,  and  none  is  so 
complete   and   wonderful    in    its   internal    structure. 
The  particle  of  jelly,  however,  is  a  figure  of  speech. 
The  body  of  the  humblest  Foraminifer  is  much  more 
than   this.      It  is  an  organism  with  divers   parts,  as 
we  have  already  seen   in  a   previous  chapter,  and  it 
is  endowed  with  the  mysterious  forces  of  life  which 


CI 


The  origin  of  life 


isx 


in  it  guide  the  physical   forces,  just  as  they  do  in 
building    up    phosphate   of   lime    in    our   bones,   or 
indeed    just    as   the   will    of    the   architect   does    in 
building  a  palace.     The  profound  significance  which 
this  has,  reaches  beyond  the  domain  of  the  physical 
and  vital,  even  to  the  spiritual.     It  clings  to  all  our 
conceptions   of   living    things:    quite   as   much,   for 
example,  to  the  evolution  of  an  animal,  with  all  its 
parts   from  a  one-celled  germ,  or  to  the  connection 
of  brain-cells  with  the  manifesUcions  of  intelligence. 
Viewed   \n   this  way,  we  may  share  with  the  author 
of  the  sentence  I   have  quoted  his  feeling  of  venera- 
tion  in  the  presence  of  this  great  wonder  of  animal 
life,  "  burning,  and  not  consumed,"  nay,  building  up, 
and   that   in   many  and  beautiful  forms.      We  may 
realize  it  most  of  all  in  the  presence  of  the  organism 
which  was  perhaps  the  first  to  manifest  on  our  planet 
these  marvellous  powers.      We  must,  however,  here, 
also,  beware  of  that  credulity  which  makes  too  many 
thinkers  limit  their  conceptions  altogether  to  physical 
force  in  matters  of  this  kind.     The  merely  material- 
istic physiologist  is  really  in  no  better  position  than 
the  savage   who  quails  before  the   thunderstorm,  or 
rejoices    in    the   solar  warmth,  and   seeing  no  force 
or  power  beyond,  fancies   himself  in  the  immediate 


i 


•52 


RELICS  OF   I'RIMEVAL   LIFE 


'1 


ill 

'in 


'I* 


'II 


'  u 


I 


presence  of  his  God.  In  Eozoon  we  must  discern 
not  only  a  mass  of  jelly,  but  a  being  endowed  with 
that  higher  vital  force  which  surpasses  vegetable  life 
and  also  physical  and  chemical  forces  ;  and  in  this 
animal  energy  we  must  see  an  emanation  from  a 
Will  higher  than  our  own,  ruling  vitality  itself; 
and  this  not  merely  to  the  end  of  constructing  the 
skeleton  of  a  Protozoon,  but  of  elaborating  all  the 
wonderful  developments  of  life  that  were  to  follow 
in  succeeding  ages,  and  with  reference  to  which  the 
production  and  growth  of  this  creature  were  initial 
steps.  It  is  this  mystery  of  design  which  really 
constitutes  the  "  profound  significance  "  of  the  fora- 
minifcral  skeleton. 

Another  phenomenon  of  animality  forced  upon 
our  notice  by  the  Protozoa  is  that  of  the  conditions 
of  life  in  animals  not  individual,  as  we  are,  but 
aggregative  and  accumulative  in  indefinite  masses. 
What,  for  instance,  the  relations  to  each  other  of 
the  Polyps,  growing  together  in  a  coral  mass,  of 
the  separate  parts  of  a  Sponge,  or  the  separate 
cells  of  a  Foraminifer,  or  of  the  sarcode  mass  of 
an  indefinitely  spread  out  Cryptozoon.  In  the  case 
of  the  Polyps,  we  may  believe  that  there  is  special 
sensation   in  the  tentacles  and  oral  opening  of  each 


THE  ORIGIN   OK  LIFE 


^53 


individual,   and   that   each   may   experience    hunger 
when  in  want,  or  satisfaction  when  it  is  filled  with 
food,   and   that    injuries   to    one  part   of   the   mass 
may    indirectly    affect    other    parts,    but    that    the 
nutrition    of    the    whole    mass    may    be    as    much 
unfelt   by   the   individual    Polyps   as    the    processes 
going   on  in  our   own  bones  are  by  us.     So  in  the 
case  of  a  large  Sponge  or  Foraminifer,  there   may 
be  some  special  sensation  in  individual  cells,  pseudo- 
pods,  or  segments,  and   the  general    sensation  may 
be    very   limited,   while    unconscious    living    powers 
pervade  the  whole.     In  this  matter  of  aggregation 
of   animals    we    have    thus    various    grades.      The 
Foraminifers    and     Sponges    present     us    with    the 
simplest  of  all,  and  that  which  most  resembles  the 
aggregation  of  buds  in  the  plant.     The  Polyps  and 
complex    Bryozoons    present    a    higher    and    more 
specialized    type;    and    though    the    bilateral   sym- 
metry which  obtains  in  the  higher  animals  is  of  a 
different  nature,  it  still  at  least  reminds  us  of  that 
multiplication  of  similar  parts  which  we  see  in  the 
lower  grades  of  being.     It  is  worthy  of  notice  here 
that  the  lower  animals  which  show  aggregative  ten- 
dencies  present   but   imperfect   indications,  or   none 
at  all,   of   bilateral   symmetry.   ,  Their   bodies,   like 


:) 


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I 


254  KLLICS  OF    I'KIMEVAL   LIl-'E 

those  of  plants,  are  for  the  most  part  built  up 
around  a  central  axis,  or  they  show  tendencies  to 
spiral  modes  of  growth. 

It   is   this   composite   sort   of    life   which   is   con- 
nected  with    the    main    geological    function   of    the 
Foraminifer.     While   active   sensation,   appetite,  and 
j  ,  enjoyment   pervade    the    pseudopods    and    external 

I  ;  sarcode  of  the  mass,  the  hard  skeleton  common  to 

the  whole  is  growing  within  ;  and   in   this  way  the 
calcareous   matter    is   gradually   removed    from   the 
•<»  sea-water,   and    built   up   in  solid    reefs,  or   in   piles 

of  loose  foraminiferal  shells.  Thus  it  is  the  aggre- 
gative or  common  life,  alike  in  Foraminifers  as  in 
Corals,  that  tends  most  powerfully  to  the  accumu- 
lation of  calcareous  matter ;  and  those  creatures 
whose  life  is  of  this  complex  character  are  best 
suited  to  be  world-builders,  since  the  result  of 
their  growth  is  not  merely  a  cemetery  of  their 
osseous  remains,  but  a  huge  communistic  edifice, 
to  which  multitudes  of  lives  have  contributed,  and 
in  which  successive  generations  take  up  their  abode 
on  the  remains  of  their  ancestors.  This  process, 
so  potent  in  the  progress  of  the  earth's  geological 
history,  began,  as  far  as  we  know,  with  Eozoon. 
Whether,    then,    in    questioning    our     proto-fora- 


•I 


' 


THE   OKlCilN    Ob'   Lll'E 


255 


minifer,  we  have  reference  to  the  vital  functions  of 
its  gelatinous  sarcode,  to  the  complexity  and  beauty 
of  its  calcareous  test,  or  to  its  capacity  for  effecting 
great  material  results  through  the  union  of  indi- 
viduals, we  perceive  that  we  have  to  do,  not  with 
a  low  condition  of  those  powers  which  we  designate 
life,  but  with  the  manifestation  of  those  powers 
through  the  means  of  a  simple  organism  ;  and  this 
in  a  degree  of  perfection  which  we,  from  our  point 
of  view,  would  have  in  the  first  instance  supposed 
impossible. 

If  we  imagine  a  world  altogether  destitute  of  life, 
we  still  might  have  geological  formations  in  pro- 
gress. Not  only  would  volcanoes  belch  forth  their 
liquid  lavas  and  their  stones  and  ashes,  but  the 
waves  and  currents  of  the  ocean  and  the  rains  and 
streams  on  the  land,  with  the  ceaseless  decompos- 
ing action  of  the  carbonic  acid  of  the  atmosphere, 
would  be  piling  up  mud,  sand,  and  pebbles  in  the 
sea.  There  might  even  be  some  formation  of  lime- 
stone taking  place  where  springs  charged  with 
bicarbonate  of  lime  were  oozing  out  on  the  land 
or  the  bottom  of  the  waters.  But  in  such  a  world 
all  the  carbon  would  be  in  the  state  of  carbonic 
acid,  and  all  the  limestone  would  either  be  diffused 


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256  RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 

in  small  quantities  through  various  rocks  or  in 
limited  local  beds,  or  in  solution,  perhaps  as  chloride 
of  calcium,  in  the  sea.  Dr.  Hunt  has  given  chemical 
grounds  for  supposing  that  the  most  ancient  seas 
were  largely  supplied  with  this  very  soluble  salt, 
instead  of  the  chloride  of  sodium,  or  common  salt, 
which  now  prevails  in  the  sea-water. 

Where  in  such  a  world  would  life  be  introduced? 
on  the  land  or  in  the  waters?  All  scientific  pro- 
bability would  say  in  the  latter.  The  ocean  is  now 
vastly  more  populous  than  the  land.  The  waters 
alone  afford  the  conditions  necessary  at  once  for 
the  most  minute  and  the  grandest  organisms,  at 
once  for  the  simplest  and  for  others  of  the  most 
complex  character.  Especially  do  they  afford  the 
best  conditions  for  those  animals  which  subsist  in 
complex  communities,  and  which  aggregate  large 
quantities  of  mineral  matter  in  their  skeletons.  So 
true  is  this  that  up  to  the  present  time  all  the 
species  of  Protozoa  and  of  the  animals  most  nearly 
allied  to  them  are  aquatic.  Even  in  the  waters, 
however,  plant  life,  though  possibly  in  very  simple 
forms,  must  precede  the  animal. 

Let  humble  plants,  then,  be  introduced  in  the 
waters,  and   they  would   at  once  begin   to  use  the 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  LIFE 


25; 


solar  light  for  the  purpose  of  decomposing  carbonic 
acid,  and   forming    carbon    compounds  which    had 
not    before    existed,    and    which    independently   of 
vegetable  life   would   never  have  existed.     At    the 
same  time  lime  and  other   mineral  substances  pre- 
sent in  the  sea-water  would  be  fixed  in  the   tissues 
of  these  plants,  either  in  a  minute  state  of  division, 
as    little    grains    or    Coccoliths,   or    in    more    solid 
masses  like  those  of  the  Corallines  and  Nullipores. 
In   this   way   a    beginning    of   limestone   formation 
might  be  made,  and  quantities  of  carbonaceous  and 
bituminous    matter,    resulting    from    the    decay    of 
marine  plants,  might  accumulate  in  the  sea-bottom. 
The  plants  have  collected  stores  of  organic  matter, 
and    their    minute    g^rms,   along   with    microscopic 
species,   are  floating  everywhere   in   the  sea.     Nay, 
there  may  be  abundant  examples  of  those  Amceba- 
like  germs  of  aquatic  plants,  simulating   for  a  time 
the  life  of  the  animal,  and  then  returning  into  the 
circle  of  vegetable   life.      In  these  some  might  see 
precursors   of  the   Protozoa,   though    they  are   pro- 
bably  rather  prophetic    analogues    than    blood    re- 
lations.    The   plant  has  fulfilled   its  function  as  far 
as   the   waters   are  concerned,   and   now   arises   the 
opportunity  for  the  animal.      In   what    form   shall 


258  RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 

it  appear?  Many  of  its  higher  forms,  those  which 
depend  upon  animal  food  or  on  the  more  complex 
plants  for  subsistence,  would  obviously  be  unsuit- 
able. Further,  the  sea-water  is  still  too  much 
saturated  with  saline  matter  to  be  fit  for  the  higher 
animals  of  the  waters.  Still  further,  there  may  be 
a  residue  of  internal  heat  forbidding  coolness,  and 
that  solution  of  free  oxygen  which  is  an  essential 
condition  of  existence  to  most  of  the  modern 
animals.'  Something  must  be  found  suitable  for 
this  saline,  imperfectly  oxygenated,  tepid  sea.  Some- 
thing too  is  wanted  that  can  aid  in  introducing 
conditions  more  favourable  to  higher  life  in  the 
future.  Our  experience  of  the  modern  world  shows 
us  that  all  these  conditions  can  be  better  fulfilled 
by  the  Protozoa  than  by  any  other  creatures. 
They  can  live  now  equally  in  those  great  depths 
of  ocean  where  the  conditions  are  most  unfavour- 
able to  other  forms  of  life,  and  in  tepid  unhealthy 
pools  overstocked  with  vegetable  matter  in  a  state 
of  putridity.     They  form  a   most  suitable   basis  for 


*  It  has  been  assumed  that  any  temperature  over  120" 
Fahrenheit  would  be  incompatible  with  ordinary  aquatic  life. 
bull  such  life  is  at  least  possible  in  some  form  up  to  2oo^ 


THE   ORIGIN   OF  LIFE 


259 


higher  forms  of  h'fe.  They  have  remarkable  powers 
of  removing  mineral  matters  from  the  waters  and 
of  fixing  them  in  solid  forms.  So  in  the  fitness  of 
things  Eozoon  is  just  what  we  need,  and  after  it 
has  spread  itself  over  the  mud  and  rock  of  the 
primeval  seas,  and  built  up  extensive  reefs  therein, 
other  animals  may  be  introduced  capable  of  feed- 
ing on  it,  or  of  sheltering  themselves  in  its  stony 
masses,  and  thus  we  have  the  appropriate  dawn  of 
animal  life. 

But  what  are  we  to  say  of  the  cause  of  this  new 
series   of  facts,   so   wonderfully   superimposed   upon 
the  merely  vegetable  and  mineral  ?     Must  it  remain 
to  us  as  an  act  of  creation,  or  was  it  derived  from 
some   pre-existing    matter    in   which    it    had    been 
potentially  present  ?     Science  fails  to  inform  us,  but 
conjectural    "phylogeny"    steps    in    and    takes    its 
place.     Haeckel,  one   of  the   prophets   of  this   new 
philosophy,    waves    his    magic    wand,    and    simple 
masses    of    sarcode    spring   from   inorganic    matter, 
and    form   diffused   sheets   of  sea-slime,  from  which 
are  in  time  separated  distinct  Amoeboid  and  Fora- 
miniferal  forms.     Experience,  however,  gives   us  no 
facts  whereon  to   build  this  supposition,  and   it  re- 
mains  neither  more    nor  less    scientific    or  certain 


26o  RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 

than   that   old   fancy   of  the   Egyptians,  which   de- 
rived animals  from  the  fertile  mud  of  the  Nile. 

If  we  fail  to  learn  anything  of  the  origin  of 
Eozoon,  and  if  its  life- processes  are  just  as  inscrut- 
able as  those  of  higher  creatures,  we  can  at  least 
inquire  as  to  its  history  in  geological  time.  In 
this  respect  we  find  in  the  first  place  that  the 
Protozoa  have  not  had  a  monopoly  in  their  pro- 
fession of  accumulators  of  calcareous  rock.  Origin- 
ated by  Eozoon  in  the  old  Laurentian  time,  this 
process  has  been  proceeding  throughout  the  geo- 
logical ages ;  and  while  Protozoa,  equally  simple 
with  the  great  prototype  of  the  race,  have  been 
and  are  continuing  its  function,  and  producing  new 
limestones  in  every  geological  period,  and  so  adding 
to  the  volume  of  the  successive  formations,  new 
workers  of  higher  grades  have  been  introduced, 
capable  of  enjoying  higher  forms  of  animal  activity, 
and  equally  of  labouring  at  the  great  task  of  con- 
tinent-building ;  of  existing,  too,  in  seas  less  rich 
in  mineral  substances  than  those  of  the  Eozoic 
time,  and  for  that  very  reason  better  suited  to 
higher  and  more  skilled  artists.  It  is  to  be  ob- 
served in  connection  with  this,  that  as  the  work 
of    the    Foraminifers    has    thus    been   assumed    by 


THE  ORIGIN   OF  LIFE 


261 


Others,  their  size  and  importance  have  diminished, 
and  the  grander  forms  of  more  recent  times  have 
some  of  them  been  fain  to  build  up  their  hard 
parts  of  cemented  sand  instead  of  limestone. 

But  we  further  find  that,  while  the  first  though  not 
the   only   organic   gatherers   of  limestone   from   the 
ocean  waters,  they  have  had  to  do,  not  merely  with 
the  formation  of  calcareous  sediments,  but  also  with 
that    of   silicious    deposits.     The    greenish    silicate 
called    glauconite,    or    greensand,    is    found    to    be 
associated  with  much  of  the  foraminiferal  slime  now 
accumulating  in  the  ocean,  and  also  with  the  older 
deposits  of  this  kind  now  consolidated  in  chalks  and 
similar  rocks.     This  name  glauconite  is,  as  Dr.  Hunt 
has   shown,   employed    to    designate    not    only   the 
hydrous  silicate  of  iron  and  potash,  which  perhaps 
has  the  best  right  to  it,  but  also  compounds  which 
contain  in  addition  large  percentages  of  alumina,  or 
magnesia,   or  both;    and   one    glauconite   from   the 
Tertiary  limestones  near  Paris  is  said  to  be  a  true 
serpentine,  or  hydrous  silicate   of  magnesia.^     Now 
the  association  of  such  substances  with  Foraminifera 
is   not  purely   accidental.    Just   as    a    fragment    of 


*  Berthier,  quoted  by  Hunt. 


262  RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL  LIFE 

decaying  wood,  imbedded  in  sediment,  has  the 
[jower  of  decomposing  soluble  silicates  carried  to 
it  by  water,  and  parting  with  its  carbon  in  the  form 
of  carbonic  acid,  in  exchange  for  the  silica,  and  thus 
replacing,  particle  by  particle,  the  carbon  of  the  woo  ; 
with  silicon,  so  that  at  length  it  becomes  petrified 
into  a  flinty  mass,  so  the  sarcode  of  a  Foraminifer 
can  in  like  manner  abstract  silica  from  the  surround- 
ing water  or  water-soaked  sediment.  From  some 
peculiarity  in  the  conditions  of  the  case,  however, 
our  Protozoon  usually  becomes  petrified  with  a 
hydrous  silicate  instead  of  with  pure  silica.  The 
favourable  conditions  presented  by  the  deep  sea  for 
the  combination  of  silica  with  bases,  as  indicated  in 
the  reports  of  the  Challenger  already  referred  to,  may 
perhaps  account  in  part  for  this.  But  whatever  the 
cause,  it  is  usual  to  find  fossil  Foraminifera  with 
their  sarcode  replaced  by  such  material.  We  also 
find  beds  of  glauconite  retaining  the  forms  of  Fora- 
minifera, while  the  calcareous  tests  of  these  have 
been  removed,  apparently  by  acid  waters. 

One  consideration  which,  though  conjectural,  de- 
serves notice,  is  connected  with  the  food  of  these 
humble  animals.  They  are  known  to  feed  to  a  large 
extent  on   minute   plants,  the    Diatoms,   and   other 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  LIFE 


263 


organisms  having  silica  in  their  skeletons  or  cell- 
walls,  and  consequently  soluble  silicates  in  their 
juices.  The  silicious  matter  contained  in  these 
organisms  is  not  wanted  by  the  Foraminifera  for 
their  own  skeletons,  and  will  therefore  be  voided  by 
them  as  an  excremcntitious  matter.  In  this  way, 
where  Foraminifera  greatly  abound,  there  may  be  a 
large  production  of  soluble  silica  and  silicates,  in  a 
condition  ready  to  enter  into  new  and  insoluble 
compounds,  and  to  fill  the  cavities  and  pores  of  dead 
shells.  Thus  glauconite  and  even  serpentine  may,  in 
a  certain  sense,  be  a  sort  of  foraminiferal  coprolitic 
matter  or  excrement.  Of  course  it  is  not  necessary 
to  suppose  that  this  is  the  only  source  of  such 
materials.  They  may  be  formed  in  other  ways, 
and  especially  by  the  disintegration  of  volcanic 
ashes  and  lapilli  in  the  sea-bottom  ;  but  I  suggest 
this  as  at  least  a  possible  link  of  connection. 

Whether  or  not  the  conjecture  last  mentioned  has 
any  validity,  there  is  another  and  most  curious  bond 
of  connection  between  oceanic  Protozoa  and  silicious 
deposits.  Professor  Wyville  Thompson  reports  from 
the  Challenger  soundings,  that  in  certain  areas  of  the 
South  Pacific  the  ordinary  foraminiferal  ooze  is  re- 
placed by  a  peculiar  red  clay,  which  he  attributes  to 


1: 


264  RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL   LIFE 

the  action  of  water  laden  with  carbonic  acid,  in  re- 
moving all  the  lime,  and  leaving  this  red  mud  as  a 
sort  of  ash,  composed  of  silica,  alumina,  and  iron 
oxide.  Now  this  is  in  all  probability  a  product  of 
the  decomposition  and  oxidation  of  the  glauconitic 
matter  contained  in  the  ooze.  Thus  we  learn  that 
when  areas  on  which  calcareous  deposits  have  been 
accumulated  by  Protozoa  are  invaded  by  cold  arctic 
or  antarctic  waters  charged  with  carbonic  acid,  the 
carbonate  of  lime  may  be  removed,  and  the  glauco- 
nite  left,  or  even  the  latter  may  be  decomposed, 
leaving  silicious,  aluminous,  and  other  deposits, 
which  may  be  quite  destitute  of  any  organic  struc- 
tures, or  retain  only  such  remnants  of  them  as  have 
been  accidentally  or  by  their  more  resisting  character 
protected  from  destruction.*     In  this  way  it  may  be 


*  The  "red  cbalk"  of  Antrim,  and  that  of  Speeton,  contain 
arenaceous  Foraminifera  and  silicious  casts  of  their  shells, 
apparently  different  from  typical  glauconite,  and  the  extremely 
fine  ferruginous  and  argillaceous  sediment  of  these  chalks  may 
well  be  decomposed  glauconitic  matter  like  that  of  the  South 
Pacific.  I  have  found  these  beds,  the  hard  limestones  of  the 
French  Neocomian,  and  the  altered  greensands  of  the  Alps, 
very  instructive  for  comparison  with  the  Laurentian  lime- 
stones ;  and  they  well  deserve  study  by  all  interested  in  such 
subjects. 


THE   ORIGIN   OF   LIFE 


265 


possible  that  many  silicious  rocks  of  the  Laurentian 
and  Primordial  ages,  which  now  show  no  trace  of 
organization,  may  be  indirectly  products  of  the 
action  of  life.  In  any  case  it  seems  plain  that  beds 
of  greensand  and  similar  hydrous  silicates  may  be 
the  residue  of  thick  deposits  of  foraminiferal  lime- 
stone or  chalky  matter,  and  that  these  silicates  may 
in  their  turn  be  oxidized  and  decomposed,  leaving 
beds  of  apparently  inorganic  clay.  Such  beds  may 
finally  be  consolidated  and  rendered  crystalline  by 
metamorphism,  and  thus  a  great  variety  of  silicated 
rocks  may  result,  retaining  little  or  no  indication  of 
any  connection  with  the  agency  of  life.  We  can 
scarcely  yet  conjecture  the  amount  of  light  which 
these  new  facts  may  eventually  throw  on  the  ser- 
pentine and  other  rocks  of  the  Eozoic  age.  In  the 
meantime  they  open  up  a  noble  field  to  chemists  and 
microscopists. 

When  the  marvellous  results  of  recent  deep-sea 
dredgings  were  first  made  known,  and  it  was  found 
that  chalky  foraminiferal  earth  is  yet  accumulating 
in  the  Atlantic,  with  sponges  and  sea-urchins  re- 
sembling in  many  respects  those  whose  remains 
exist  in  the  chalk,  the  fact  was  expressed  by  the 
statement  that   we   still   live   in    the    chalk    period. 


266  RELICS  OK    rUIMEVAL  LIFE 

Thus  stated,  the  conclusion  is  scarcely  correct.  We 
do  not  live  in  the  chalk  period,  but  the  conditions 
of  the  chalk  period  still  exist  in  the  deep  sea.  We 
may  say  more  than  this.  To  some  extent  the 
conditions  of  the  Laurentian  period  still  exist  in 
the  sea,  except  in  so  far  as  they  have  been  removed 
by  the  action  of  the  Foraminifcra  and  other  lime- 
stone builders.  To  those  who  can  realize  the  enor- 
mous lapse  of  time  involved  in  the  geological  history 
of  the  earth,  this  conveys  an  impression  almost  of 
eternity  in  the  existence  of  this  oldest  of  all  the 
families  of  the  animal  kingdom. 

We  arc  still  more  deeply  impressed  with  this 
when  we  bring  into  view  the  great  physical  changes 
which  have  occurred  since  the  dawn  of  life.  When 
we  consider  that  the  skeletons  of  Eozoon  contribute 
to  form  the  oldest  hills  of  our  continents  ;  that  they 
have  been  sealed  up  in  solid  marble,  and  that  they 
are  associated  with  hard  crystalline  rocks  contorted 
in  the  most  fantastic  manner ;  that  these  rocks  have, 
almost  from  the  beginning  of  geological  time,  been 
undergoing  waste  to  supply  the  material  of  new 
formations  ;  that  they  have  witnessed  innumerable 
subsidences  and  elevations  of  the  continents  ;  and 
that  the  greatest  mountain  chains  of  the  earth  have 


THE  ORIGIN    OF   LIFE 


267 


been  built  up  from  the  sea  since  Eoztjon  began  to 
exist, — we  acquire  a  most  profound  impression  of 
the  persistence  of  the  lower  forms  of  animal  life, 
and  know  that  mountains  may  be  removed  and 
continents  swept  away  and  replaced,  before  the 
least  of  the  humble  fjelatinous  Protozoa  can  finally 
perish.  Life  may  be  a  fleeting  thing  in  the  in- 
dividual, but  as  handed  down  through  successive 
generations  of  beings,  and  as  a  constant  animating 
power  in  successive  organisms,  it  appears,  like  its 
Creator,  eternal. 

This  leads  to  another  and  very  serious  question. 
How  long  did  lineal  descendants  of  Eozoon  exist, 
and  do  they  still  exist  ?  We  may  for  the  present 
consider  this  question  apart  from  ideas  of  derivation 
and  elevation  into  higher  planes  of  existence  of 
which,  in  point  of  fact,  we  have  no  actual  evidence. 
Eozoon  as  a  species  and  even  as  a  genus  may  cease 
to  exist  with  the  Eozoic  age,  and  we  have  no  proof 
that  any  succeeding  forms  of  Pr  )tozoa  are  its  modi- 
fied descendants.  Whatever  the  causes  which  pro- 
duced the  earliest  Protozoan,  they  may  have  continued 
more  or  less  to  be  operative  in  succeeding  ages.  As 
far  as  their  structures  inform  us,  they  may  as  much 
claim  to  be  original  creations  as  Eozoon  itself     Still 


268 


RELICS   OF  PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


!|i 


descer  Jants  of  Eozoon  may  have  continued  to  exist, 
though  we  have  not  yet  met  with  them.  I  should 
not  be  surprised  to  hear  of  a  veritable  specimen 
being  some  day  dredged  alive  in  the  Atlantic  or  the 
Pacific.  It  is  also  to  be  observed  that  in  animals  so 
simple  as  Eozoon  many  varieties  may  appear,  widely 
different  from  the  original.  In  these  the  general 
form  and  habit  of  life  are  the  most  likely  things  to 
change,  the  minute  structures  much  less  so.  We 
need  not,  therefore,  be  surprised  to  find  its  de- 
scendants diminishing  in  size  or  altering  in  general 
form,  while  the  characters  of  the  fine  tubulation  and 
of  the  canal  system  would  remain.  We  need  not 
wonder  if  any  sessile  Foraminifer  of  the  Nummulinc 
group  should  prove  to  be  a  descendant  of  Eozoon. 
It  would  be  less  likely  that  a  Sponge  or  a  Fora- 
minifer of  the  Rotaline  type  should  originate  from  it. 
If  one  could  only  secure  a  succession  of  deep-sea 
limestones  with  Foraminifers,  extending  all  the  way 
from  the  Laurentian  to  the  present  time,  I  can 
imagine  nothing  more  interesting  than  to  compare 
the  whole  series,  with  the  view  of  ascertaining  the 
limits  of  descent  with  variation,  and  the  points  where 
new  forms  are  introduced.  We  have  not  yet  such  a 
series,  but  it  may  be  obtained  ;  and  as  Foraminifera 


THE  ORIGIN   OF  LIFE 


269 


are  eminently  cosmopolitan,  occurring  over  vastly 
wide  areas  of  sea-bottom,  and  are  very  variable,  they 
would  afford  a  better  test  of  theories  of  derivation 
than  any  that  can  be  obtained  from  the  more  locally 
distributed  and  less  variable  animals  of  higher  grade. 
I  was  much  struck  with  this  recently,  in  examining  a 
series  of  Foraminifera  from  the  Cretaceous  of  Mani- 
toba, and  comparing  them   with  the  varietal  forms 
of  the  same  species  in  the  interior  of  Nebraska,  500 
miles  to  the  south,  and   with  those  of  the  English 
chalk  and  01  the  modern  seas.     In  all  these  different 
times  and  places  we  had  the  same  species.     In  all 
thoy  existed  under  so  many  varietal   forms  passing 
into  each  other,  that  in  former  times  every  species 
had   been  multiplied   into  several.     Yet   in   all,   the 
identical  varietal  forms  were  repeated  with  the  most 
minute   markings   alike.      Here  were  at  once  con- 
stancy the  most  remarkable  and  variations  the  most 
extensive.     If  we  dwell  on  the  one  to  the  exclusion 
of  the  other,  we   reach   only  one-sided  conclusions, 
imperfect  and  unsatisfactory.     By  taking  both  in  con- 
nection we  can  alone  realize  the  full  significance  of 
the  facts.     We  cannot  yet  obtain  such  series  for  all 
geological  time  ;  but  it  may  evei?  now  be  worth  while 
to  inquire.  What  do  we  know  as  to  any  modification 


270  RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 

in  the  case  of  the  primeval  Foraminifers,  whether 
with  reference  to  the  derivation  from  them  of  other 
Protozoa  or  of  higher  forms  of  hfe  ? 

There  is  no  link  whatever  in  geological  fact  to 
connect  Eozoon  with  any  of  the  Mollusks,  Radiates, 
or  Crustaceans  of  the  succeeding  Palaeozoic.  What 
may  be  discovered  in  the  future  we  cannot  con- 
jecture ;  but  at  present  these  stand  before  us  as 
distinct  creations.  It  would,  of  course,  be  more  pro- 
bable that  Eozoon  should  be  the  ancestor  of  some 
of  the  Foraminifera  of  the  Primordial  age,  but 
strangely  enough  it  is  very  dissimilar  from  all  these 
except  Cryptozoon  ;  and  here,  as  already  stated,  the 
evidence  of  minute  structure  fails  to  a  great  extent, 
and  Eozoon  Bavaricum  of  the  Huronian  age  scarcely 
helps  to  bridge  over  the  gap  which  yawns  in  our 
imperfect  geological  record.  Of  actual  facts,  there- 
fore, we  have  none ;  and  those  evolutionists  who 
have  regarded  the  dawn-animal  as  an  evidence  in 
their  favour,  have  been  obliged  to  have  recourse  to 
supposition  and  assumption. 

Taking  the  ground  of  the  derivationist,  it  is  con- 
venient to  assume  (i)  that  Eozoon  was  either  the  first 
or  nearly  the  first  of  animals,  and  that,  being  a  Pro- 
tozoan of  simple  structure,  it  constitutes  an  appro- 


1 


I  ! 


THE  ORIGIN   OF   LIFE 


271 


priate  beginning  of  life ;  (2)  that  it  originated  from 
some    unexplained   change   in   the   protoplasmic   or 
albuminous  matter  of  some  humble  plant,  or  directly 
from   inorganic   matter,  or  at   least   was   descended 
from  some  creature  only  a  little  more  simple  which 
had  being  in  this  way ;  (3)  that  it  had   in  itself  un- 
limited capacities  for  variation  and  also  for  extension 
in  time ;  (4)  that  it  tended  to  multiply  rapidly,  and 
at  last  so  to  occupy  the  ocean  that  a  struggle  for 
existence  arose ;   (5)  that  though  at  first,  from  the 
very  nature  of  its  origin,  adapted  to  the  conditions 
of  the  world,  yet  as  these  conditions  became  altered 
by  physical  changes,  it  was  induced  to  accommodate 
itself  to  them,  and  so  to  pass  into  new  species  and 
genera,  until  at  last  it  appeared  in  entirely  new  types 
in  the  Cambrian  fauna. 

These  assumptions  are,  with  the  exception  of  the 
first  two,  merely  the  application  to  Eozoon  of  what 
have  been  called  the  Darwinian  laws  of  multipli- 
cation, of  limited  population,  of  variation,  of  change 
of  physical  conditions,  and  of  equilibrium  of  nature. 
If  otherwise  proved,  and  shown  to  be  applicable  to 
creatures  like  Eozoon,  of  course  we  must  apply  them 
to  it ;  but  in  so  far  as  that  creature  itself  is  con- 
cerned  they  are   incapable   of  proof,   and   some   of 


272 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


them  contrary  to  such  evidence  as  we  have.  We 
have,  for  example,  no  connecting  link  between 
Eozoon  and  any  form  of  vegetable  life.  Its  struc- 
tures are  such  as  to  enable  us  at  once  to  assign  it 
to  the  animal  kingdom,  and  if  we  seek  for  connect- 
ing links  between  the  lower  animals  and  plants,  we 
have  to  look  for  them  in  the  modern  waters.  We 
have  no  reason  to  conclude  that  Eozoon  could 
multiply  so  rapidly  as  to  fill  all  the  stations  suitable 
for  it,  and  to  commence  a  struggle  for  existence. 
On  the  contrary,  after  the  lapse  of  untold  ages  the 
conditions  for  the  life  of  Foraminifers  still  exist  over 
two-thirds  of  the  surface  of  the  earth.  In  regard  to 
variation,  we  have,  it  is  true,  evidence  of  the  wide 
range  of  varieties  of  species  in  Protozoa,  within  the 
limits  of  the  group,  but  none  whatever  of  any  ten- 
dency to  pass  into  other  groups.  Nor  can  it  be 
proved  that  the  conditions  of  the  ocean  were  so 
different  in  Cambrian  or  Silurian  times  as  to  pre- 
clude the  continued  and  comfortable  existence  of 
Eozoon.  New  creatures  came  in  which  superseded 
it,  and  new  conditions  more  favourable  in  proportion 
to  these  new  creatures  ;  but  neither  the  new  creatures 
nor  the  new  conditions  were  necessarily  or  probably 
connected  with  Eozoon,  any  farther  than  that  it  may 


THE   ORIGIN   OF  LIFE 


VI 


have  served  newer  tribes  of  animals  for  food,  and 
may  have  rid  the  sea  of  some  of  its  superfluous 
Hme  in  their  interest.  In  short,  the  hypothesis  of 
evolution  will  explain  the  derivation  of  other  animals 
from  Eozoon  if  we  adopt  its  assumptions,  just  as  it 
will  in  that  case  explain  anything  else ;  but  the 
assumptions  are  improbable,  and  contrary  to  such 
facts  as  we  know. 

Eozoon  itself,  however,  bears  some  negative  though 
damaging  testimony  against  evolution,  and  I  take 
the  liberty  of  repeating  here  a  summary  of  its 
imaginary  autobiography  : — "  I,  Eozoon  Canadense, 
being  a  creature  of  low  organization  and  intelligence, 
and  of  practical  turn,  am  no  theorist,  but  have  a 
lively  appreciation  of  such  facts  as  I  am  able  to 
perceive.  I  found  myself  growing  upon  the  sea- 
bottom,  and  know  not  whence  I  came.  I  grew  and 
flourished  for  ages,  and  found  no  let  or  hindrance  to 
my  expansion,  and  abundance  of  food  was  always 
floated  to  me  without  my  having  to  go  in  search  of 
it.  At  length  a  change  came.  Certain  creatures 
with  hard  snouts  and  jaws  began  to  prey  on  me. 
Whence  they  came  I  know  not ;  I  cannot  think 
that  they  came  from  the  germs  which  I  had  dis- 
persed so  abundantly  throughout  the  ocean.     Un- 

I8 


ff 


!! 


274 


RELICS   OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


fortunately,  just  at  the  same  time  lime  became  a 
little  less  abundant  in  the  waters,  perhaps  because 
of  the  great  demands  I  myself  had  made,  and  thus 
it  was  not  so  easy  as  before  to  produce  a  thick 
supplemental  skeleton  for  defence.  So  I  had  to  give 
way.  I  have  done  my  best  to  avoid  extinction ; 
but  it  is  clear  that  I  must  at  length  be  overcome, 
and  must  either  disappear  or  subside  into  a  humbler 
condition,  and  that  other  creatures  better  provided 
for  the  new  conditions  of  the  world  must  take  my 
place."  In  such  terms  we  may  suppose  that  this 
patriarch  of  the  seas  might  tell  his  history,  and 
mourn  his  destiny,  though  he  might  also  congratu- 
late himself  on  having  in  an  honest  way  done  his 
duty  and  fulfilled  his  function  in  the  world,  leaving 
it  to  other  and  perhaps  wiser  creatures  to  dispute 
as  to  his  origin  and  fate,  while  much  less  perfectly 
fulfilling  the  ends  of  their  own  existence. 

Thus  our  dawn-animal  has  positively  no  story  to 
tell  as  to  his  own  ii  rroduction  or  his  transmutation 
into  other  forms  of  existence.  He  leaves  the  mys- 
tery of  creation  where  it  was  ;  but  in  connection 
with  the  subsequent  history  of  life  we  can  learn 
from  him  a  little  as  to  the  laws  which  have  governed 
the  succession  of  animals  in  geological  time.     First, 


THE   ORIGIN   OF  LIFE 


2;s 


we  may  learn   that  the  plan  of  creation  has  been 
progressive,  that  there  has  been  an  advance  from  the 
few,  low,   and   generalized   types    of  the    primaeval 
ocean    to    the    more    numerous,   higher,   and    more 
specialized  types  of  more  recent  times.      Secondly, 
we  learn  that  the  lower  types,  when  first  introduced, 
and  before  they  were  subordinated  to  higher  forms 
of  life,   existed   in    some  of    their    grandest   modi- 
fications as  to  form  and  complexity,  and   occupied 
very  important  places  in  the  economy  of  the  world, 
and  that  in  succeeding  ages,  when  higher  types  were 
replacing  them  they   were   subjected   to   decay  and 
degeneracy.     Thirdly,  we  learn  that  while  the  species 
has  a  limited  term  of  existence  in  geological  time, 
any  grand  type  of  animal  existence,  like  that  of  the 
Foraminifera  or  of  the   Sponges,   once   introduced, 
continues  and  finds  throughout  all  the  vicissitudes 
of  the  earth  some  appropriate  residence.     Fourthly, 
as   to  the   mode   of  introduction   of  new  types,  or 
whether  such   creatures   as  Eozoon   had  any  direct 
connection    with     the    subsequent    introduction    of 
mollusks,    worms,    or    crustaceans,    it   is   altogether 
silent,  nor  can   it  predict  anything  as  to  the  order 
or  manner  of  their  introduction. 

Had  we   been   permitted  to  visit  the  Laurentian 


2/6 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


;  I 


I 


seas,  and  to  study  Eozoon  and  its  contemporary 
Protozoa  when  alive,  it  is  plain  that  we  could  not 
have  foreseen  or  predicted  from  the  consideration 
of  such  organisms  the  future  development  of  life. 
No  amount  of  study  of  the  prototypal  Foraminifer 
could  have  led  us  distinctly  to  the  conception  of 
even  a  Sponge  or  a  Polyp,  much  less  of  any  of  the 
higher  animals.  Why  is  this  ?  The  answer  is  that 
the  improvement  into  such  higher  types  does  not  . 
take  place  by  any  change  of  the  elementary  sar- 
code,  either  in  those  chemical,  mechanical,  or  vital 
properties  which  we  can  study,  but  in  the  adding 
to  it  of  new  structures.  In  the  Sponge,  which  is 
perhaps  the  nearest  type  of  all,  we  have  the  mov- 
able pulsating  cilium  and  true  animal  cellular 
tissue,  and  along  with  this  the  spicular  or  fibrous 
skeleton,  these  structures  leading  to  an  entire  change 
in  the  mode  of  life  and  subsistence.  In  the  higher 
types  of  animals  it  is  the  same.  Even  in  the 
highest  we  have  white  blood-corpuscles  and  ger- 
minal matter,  which,  in  so  far  as  we  know,  carry 
on  no  higher  functions  of  life  than  those  of  an 
Amoeba;  but  they  are  now  made  subordinate  to 
other  kinds  of  tissue,  of  great  variety  and  com- 
plexity, which   never  have  been  observed  to  arise 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  LIFE 


277 


out  of  the  growth  of  any  Protozoon.     There  would 
be  only  a  very  few  conceivable  inferences  which  the 
highest   finite   intelligence   could    deduce  as   to   the 
development    of    future    and    higher   animals.      He 
might  infer  that  the  foraminiferal  sarcode,  once  in- 
troduced,  might  be  the  substratum  or  foundation  of 
other  but   unknown   tissues  in   the  higher  animals, 
and    that    the   Protozoan    type   might    continue   to 
subsist    side   by  side   with    higher   forms   of   living 
things   as   they  were  successively  introduced.      He 
might   also   infer   that  the  elevation  of  the   animal 
kingdom  would  take  place  with  reference  to  those 
new   properties   of  sensation   and  voluntary  motion 
in   which    the   humblest   animals   diverge   from   the 
life  of  the  plant. 

It  is  important  that  these  points  should  be  clearly 
before  our  minds,  because  there  has  been  current  of 
late  among  naturalists  a  loose  way  of  writing  with 
reference  to  them,  which  seems  to  have  imposed  on 
many  who  are  not  naturalists.  It  has  been  said,  for 
example,  that  such  an  organism  as  Eozoon  may 
include  potentially  all  the  structures  and  functions 
of  the  higher  animals,  and  that  it  is  possible  that 
we  might  be  able  to  infer  or  calculate  all  these 
with  as    much    certainty  as  we    can    calculate  an 


2/8  RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 

eclipse  or  any  other  physical  phenomenon.  Now, 
there  is  not  only  no  foundation  in  fact  for  these 
assertions,  but  it  is  from  our  present  standpoint  not 
conceivable  that  they  can  ever  be  realized.  The 
laws  of  inorganic  matter  give  no  data  whence  any 
d  priori  deductions  or  calculations  could  be  made 
as  to  the  structure  and  vital  forces  of  the  plant. 
The  plant  gives  no  data  from  which  we  can  cal- 
culate the  functions  of  the  animal.  The  Protozoon 
gives  no  data  from  which  we  can  calculate  the 
specialties  of  the  Mollusc,  the  Articulate,  or  the 
Vertebrate.  Nor  unhappily  do  the  present  con- 
lH'jli  ditions    of   life    of   themselves    give    us    any    sure 

grounds  for  predicting  the  new  creations  that  may 
be  in  store  for  our  old  planet.  Those  who  think 
to  build  a  philosophy  and  even  a  religion  on  such 
data  are  mere  dreamers,  and  have  no  scientific 
basis  for  their  dogmas.  They  are  more  blind 
guides  than  our  primaeval  Protozoon  himself  would 
be,  in  matters  whose  real  solution  lies  in  the 
harmony  of  our  own  higher  and  immaterial  nature 
with  the  Being  who  is  the  author  of  all  life — the 
Father  "  from  whom  every  family  in  heaven  and 
earth  is  named." 


\-\\ 


III 


SOME  GENERAL  CONCLUSIONS 


279 


t     I        ■     1 


Ill 


i 


XI 

SOME    GENERAL    CONCLUSIONS 

T  T  may  very  properly  be  said  that  many  elements 
of  uncertainty  accompany  the  questions  dis- 
cussed in  the  previous  chapters,  and  that  in  any 
case  our  information  is  too  scanty  to  warrant  any 
positive  conclusions  respecting  the  origin  and 
earliest  history  of  living  beings.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  well  to  take  stock  of  what  we  do  know, 
and  even  of  what  we  may  reasonably  Siippose ; 
keeping  alwa\'s  in  view  ^he  fact  that  some  parts 
of  the  problem  of  the  origin  of  life  are  at  present 
insoluble,  and  may  possibly  ever  continue  in  that 
condition.  I  may,  therefore,  profitably  close  with 
a  summary  of  what  at  present  seem  to  be  ultimate 
facts  and  principles  in  this  matter,  which,  if  we 
have  not  yet  fully  attained  to,  we  may  at  least 
keep  in  view  as  objective  points. 

If  we  admit  that  Eozoon  was  an  animal,  we  may 
either  assume  that  it  was  the  first  introduced  on 
the  earth,  or  that  there  were  earlier  and  possibly 
even  simpler   creatures.       In  either   case  we  begin 

281 


282 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


•I 


,  i 

^  ^\ 

J  -I 

the  chain  of  animal  Hfe  with  a  Protozooan  belong- 
ing to  one  of  the  simpler  or  more  generalized  types 
of  that  group,  and  entitled  to  the  name,  both  be- 
cause of  its  place  in  order  of  time  and  of  rank  in 
the  development  of  the  animal  kingdom.  If  we 
deny  the  claims  of  Eozoon,  then  the  base  of  our 
animal  system  must  for  the  present  be  found  in  the 
Sponges,  Worms,  Foraminifera,  and  Radiolarians  of 
the  Huronian,  with  the  problematical  laminated 
forms  allied  to  Cryptozoon  which  seem  to  occur 
even  in  the  Upper  Laiirentian.  Thus  in  this  case 
the  miracle  of  creation  stands  before  us  in  a  some- 
what more  complex  form,  though  greatly  less  so 
than  if  we  had  to  accept  the  fauna  of  the  Lower 
Cambrian  as  the  oldest  known. 

Under  any  supposition  we  cannot  hope  to  get 
beyond  a  Protozoan  or  a  few  Protozoa,  and  we 
must  assume  that  these  could  perform  perfectly  in 
their  simple  way  those  functions  of  assimilation, 
organic  growth,  reproduction,  sensation,  and  spon- 
taneous motion,  which  are  characteristic  of  these 
lowest  forms  of  life  in  the  present  world. 

It  is  plain,  finally,  that  however  simple  we  imagine 
this  first  possessor  of  animal  life  to  be,  we  can  have 
no    scientific    evidence   of   its    origination  either    as 


SOME   CENKRAL  CONCLUSIONS 


283 


an    embryo   or   as  an  adult.       If    it   had    no   livin<r 
ancestcjrs,    we     are     thus     face     to    face    with    the 
problem  of  the  ori<,nn  of  animal   life,  either  by  what 
has     been     termed     "  Abio^^enesis "     of     a     merely 
I^hysical   and  fortuitous  kind,  or  by  creation.     This 
implies    the    previous    production   of    the    complex 
or^^anic   comp(Hind   known   as   "  Protoplasm,"  which 
can,  so  far  as  we  know,  be  produced  only  through 
the     a^^ency     of    previously     living     "  Protoplasm  " 
formed    by   living  plants.      We   have,   therefore,   to 
presuppose  the  "  Abiogenesis  "  or  creation  of  plants 
as    predecessors  of  the  animal ;  but  here    the  same 
difficulty  meets  us.      We  have  next  to  imagine  the 
spontaneous      origin      of      the     structures     of      the 
"  Protozoon "  —  its    outer    and    inner   substance,   its 
nucleus,    its    pulsating    vesicle,  and   its    pseudopods, 
with  its  i)rotective  test,  and  its  endowment  with  vital 
powers  of   locomotion,  sensation,  assimilation,  nutri- 
tion,  and    reproduction.     Can   we   suppose    that   all 
this    could     come     of    the     chance     interaction    of 
physical  causes? 

At  present  the  production  of  the  living  from  the 
non-living  seems  to  be  an  impossibility,  and  the 
suggestion  that  at  some  vastly  distant  point  of 
past    time    physical    conditions    may  have    been  so 


284 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


''"I  i 


different  from  those  at  present  existing  as  to 
permit  spontaneous  generation  is  of  no  scientific 
value.  But  if  the  existence  of  one  primitive  Pro- 
tozoon  be  granted,  what  reason  have  we  to  believe 
that  it  contains  potentially  the  germ  of  all  the  suc- 
ceeding creatures  in  the  great  chain  of  life,  and  the 
power  of  co-ordinating  these  with  the  successive 
physical  changes  of  the  geological  ages,  and  so  pro- 
ducing the  vast  and  complicated  system  of  the 
animal  kingdom,  extending  up  to  the  present  time? 
In  doing  so,  we  either  elevate  a  low  form  of  animal 
life  into  the  role  of  Creator,  or  fall  back  on  in- 
definite chance,  with  infinite  probabilities  against 
us.  Reason,  in  short,  requires  us  to  believe  in  a 
First  Cause,  self-existent,  omnipotent  and  all-wise, 
designing  from  the  first  a  great  and  homogeneous 
plan,  of  which  as  yet  but  little  has  been  discovered 
by  us.  Thus  any  rational  scheme  of  development 
of  the  earth's  population  in  geological  time  must 
be,  not  an  agnostic  evolution,  but  a  reverent  inquiry 
into  the  mode  by  which  it  pleased  the  Creator  to 
proceed  in  His  great  work. 

Regarding  the  matter  in  this  way,  there  is  legiti- 
mate scope  for  science  in  tracing  the  long  lines  of 
the    different     types    of    ancient     animals    to    the 


W 


SOME  GENERAL  CONCLUSIONS 


285 


modern  period,  and  endeavouring  to  discover  which 
of  our  so-called  species  are  original  types  and 
which  are  mere  derivative  varieties  or  races. 

It  is  evident  that  nothing  is  gained  here  by- 
assuming  that  the  whole  geological  record  is  but 
one  of  innumerable  vast  aeons  of  a;ons,  which  have 
gone  on  in  endless  succession.  If  the  world  is 
made  to  stand  on  an  elephant,  and  this  on  a  tor- 
toise, and  this  on  lower  forms,  it  helps  us  not  at 
all  if  the  last  supporter  must  stand  on  nothing. 
The  difficulty  thus  postponed  only  becomes  greater  ; 
and  at  the  end  we  have  to  imagine,  not  only  life 
and  organization,  but  even  matter  and  energy  as 
fortuitously  originating  or  creating  themselves,  un- 
less produced  by  an  Almighty  Eternal  Will. 

In  pursuing  studies  of  this  kind,  it  is  best  for 
the  present  to  content  ourselves  with  tracing  the 
continuous  chains  of  similar  creatures  throughout 
their  extension  in  geological  time,  rather  than  to 
seek  for  connecting  links  between  different  lines  of 
being.  I  endeavoured  some  years  ago  to  give  a 
popular  outline  of  this  method  in  a  little  work  en- 
titled "  The  Chain  of  Life  in  Geological  Time."  ^ 


*  Religious  Tract  Society,  London  ;  Revell  Publishing  Co., 
New  York,  Chicago,  and  Toronto. 


286 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


Taking,  for  example,  the  earliest  Protozoa — the 
Foraminifera  and  Radiolaria  —  we  find  two  lines 
of  being  that  in  endless  varieties,  but  with  little 
material  change,  extend  from  the  earliest  periods 
to  the  present  time.  In  successive  ages  they  are 
represented  by  families,  genera,  and  species,  which 
are  regarded  as  distinct,  and  known  by  different 
names.  But  these  humble  animals  are  very  vari- 
able, and  what  seem  to  us  to  be  new  types  may 
be  merely  varieties  of  ancestral  forms.  We  might 
even  affirm  that,  for  all  we  know,  these  two  great 
groups,  as  they  exist  in  the  present  ocean,  are  lineal 
descendants  of  those  that  flourished  in  the  Eozoic. 
We  could  not  prove  this,  unless  we  were  to  find 
somewhere  a  continuous  succession  of  deep-sea  de- 
posits that  would  show  the  gradual  changes  that  had 
occurred.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  hard  to  believe 
that  one  individual  life,  so  to  speak,  could  have  con- 
tinued unimpaired  to  animate  successive  and  increas- 
ing masses  of  matter  in  all  the  vast  time  extending 
from  the  Eozoic  to  the  modern.  It  is  also  at  least 
equally  possible  that  the  causes  and  conditions,  what- 
ever they  were,  that  produced  the  earliest  Protozoa 
may  have  acted  again  and  again  in  later  times,  origi- 
nating new  lines  of  descent  with  renewed  vitality. 


h-4 


SOME   GENERAL  CONCLUSIONS 


2%7 


Still,  the  tracing  of  these  almost  incredibly  long 
lines  of  descent,  if  they  are  such,  is  a  proper, 
though  difficult,  subject  of  scientific  research,  what- 
ever may  be  the  result.  Something  has  been 
attempted  in  this  direction  over  limited  portions  of 
time  ;  but  a  vast  amount  of  patient  labour  is  re- 
quired before  certainty  can  be  attained  even  in  this 
dopartment  of  investigation. 

When,  on   the   other  hand,  we  turn  to  the  ques- 
tion  whether  such  lines  of  creation  or  descent  have 
given    off  branches   leading   to    new   types,   as,   for 
instance,    from    Protozoa  to   various  Crustaceans   or 
Mollusks,  we  are  entirely  destitute  of  facts,  and  the 
statement  lately  made  by  a  leading  agnostic  evolu- 
tionist,  that  "  if  there   is   any  truth  in  the  doctrine 
of   evolution,   every   class    of    the   animal   kingdom 
must    be    vastly    older    than    the    past   records    of 
its  appearance   on  the  surface   of  the   globe,"  shows 
us  that  all   the   attempts   to   construct  genealogical 
trees   of  the   descent   of  animals   are,  so   far  as  at 
present  known,  quite   visionary.      It   seems,   indeed, 
that  each  leading  line,  as  we  trace  it  back,  ends  in 
a  blind  alley,  just  where  we  might  suppose  that  it 
was  about  to  pass  into  another  path.      This  is  one 
reason  of  the  frequent  complaints  as    to  the  imper- 


288 


RELICS  OF  PRIMEVAL  LIFE 


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fection  of  the  geological  record,  and  of  the  occur- 
rence of  "  missing  links  "  between  different  types  of 
being.  The  only  feasible  explanations  of  this  are 
as  yet  the  suppositions  that  the  times  of  intro- 
duction of  new  types  may  have  been  unfavourable 
to  the  preservation  of  their  remains,  or  that  the  first 
representatives  of  each  new  group  were  soft-bodied 
animals  incapable  of  preservation,  or  that  they 
happened  to  be  introduced  in  regions  yet  unex- 
plored. But  such  accidents  could  scarcely  have  been 
the  rule  in  every  case.  Even  in  relation  to  man  him- 
self, he  is  still  man  in  all  the  deposits  in  which  we 
can  find  his  remains,  and  as  remote  from  the  apes 
of  his  time,  in  so  far  as  we  know,  as  he  is  from 
those  now  his  contemporaries.  It  would  seem,  in 
short,  as  if,  ashamed  of  his  humble  origin,  he  had 
carefully  obliterated  his  tracks  in  ascending  from 
his  lowly  parentage  to  the  dignity  of  humanity. 
But  in  this  he  is  only  following  the  example  of 
other  animals,  his  predecessors.  We  may,  as  is  now 
constantly  done  by  evolutionists,  fill  up  these  gaps 
by  plausible  conjectures  ;  but  this  is  not  a  scientific 
mode  of  procedure,  unless  we  are  content  to  regard 
these  conjectures  as  working  hypotheses  in  aid  of 
researches  yet  without  result. 


SOME  GENERAL  CONCLUSIONS 


289 


It  is  important  that  general  truths  of  this  kind, 
impressed  upon  us  by  our  descent  to  the  ascer- 
tained beginnings  of  life,  should  be  generally  known, 
as  counteractive  to  the  confident  statements  so 
frequently  put  forth  by  enthusiastic  speculators  and 
caterers  of  sensational  popular  science.  In  point 
of  fact,  we  still  occupy  the  position  so  long  ago 
defined  by  the  Apostle  Paul,  that  "  God's  invisible 
things  from  the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly 
seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  that  are  made, 
even  His  eternal  power  and  divinity;"  and  the 
rational  student  of  nature  must  still  be  a  pupil  in 
the  school  of  the  Almighty  Maker  of  all  things. 

Realizing  this,  we  can  learn  something  both  as 
to  the  dignity  and  the  humility  of  our  own  posi- 
tion. On  the  one  hand  we  perceive  that,  in  the 
whole  chain  of  life,  man  is  the  only  being  in  the 
likeness  of  the  Maker,  fitted  to  be  His  deputy  in 
the  world,  to  understand  His  great  work,  and  to  be 
the  heir  of  the  whole.  To  man  alone  He  has  pro- 
claimed, "  I  have  said  ye  are  gods,  and  all  of  you 
children  of  the  Most  High."  To  man  alone  has 
He  given  that  "  inspiration  of  the  Almighty  "  which 
makes  Him  the  interpreter  of  nature.  On  the  other 
hand,  when  we  consider  the  long  extent  in  time  of 

19 


290 


RELICS  OF   PRIMEVAL   LIFE 


3 


I  ■      ii 


the  great  chain  of  life  before  man,  and  along  with 
this  the  vast  oceanic  area  inaccessible  to  us,  yet 
ever  since  the  dawn  of  life  teeming  with  living 
things  innumerable,  we  find  that  man  is  not  even 
in  this  little  world  the  only  object  of  Divine  care, 
and  we  learn  a  lesson  of  humility  and  of  the  obliga- 
tions which  rest  on  us  not  only  in  relation  to  our 
fellow-men,  but  toward  our  humbler  companions 
who  share  with  us  the  care  of  their  Father  and 
ours. 

Finally,  it  is  plain  that  scientific  investigation  can 
never  bring  us  within  reach  of  the  absolute  origin 
of  life,  otherwise  than  by  the  action  of  a  creative 
Will.  Had  we  stood  on  the  earliest  shore,  and  had 
we  seen  living  things  appear  in  the  waters  where 
before  had  been  merely  inorganic  sand  or  rock, 
we  should  have  known  as  little  as  we  know  to-day 
of  even  the  proximate  causes  of  this  new  departure 
in  nature.  If  agnostics,  we  might  have  said,  "  this 
is  spontaneous  generation " ;  but  such  an  expres- 
sion would  convey  no  distinct  idea  of  the  nature  of 
the  change  which  had  occurred.  It  would  be 
merely  a  cloak  for  our  ignorance.  If  theists,  we 
might  say,  *'  this  is  creation  "  ;  but  we  would  have 
heard    no    audible    fiat,   nor  seen    any  process    or 


SOME   GENERAL  CONCLUSIONS 


291 


manipulation,  nor  known  by  what  subordinate 
agency,  if  any,  the  result  was  produced.  We  could 
have  given  no  further  explanation  than  that  of  the 
ancient  writer  who  tells  us  that  God  said,  "Let 
the  waters  swarm  with  swarmers."  We  are  told 
that  when  these  great  creative  changes  occurred,  they 
were  witnessed  by  higher  intelligences  than  man. 
"  Then  the  morning  stars  sang  together,  and  all  the 
sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy "  ^  ;  but  even  they 
could  perhaps  know  little  more  than  we,  though 
they  might  be  better  able  to  trace  the  future  de- 
velopment of  the  wonderful  plan  commenced  in  the 
humble  Protozoa  and  culminating  in  man  and  im- 
mortality. 


*  Job  xxxviii.  7. 


'Ill     !li 


r 


APPENDIX 


•93 


I 


APPENDIX 


A.    Geological  Rp:lations  of  Eozoon, 
Arcilk(jzoon,  etc. 

T  N  the  text  I  have  given  the  arrangement  of  the 
■*■  pre-Cambrian  rock-formations  of  Canada,  as 
understood  by  me  at  the  time  of  the  delivery  of  the 
lectures  on  which  this  work  is  based — an  arrangement 
which  I  believe  will,  in  the  main,  be  sustained  by 
the  work  of  the  future,  but  which  cannot  as  yet  be 
received  as  final.  The  work  of  Logan  and  Murray, 
so  far  as  I  have  had  opportunity  to  go  over  their 
ground,  was  admirable  ;  but  since  their  time  the 
progress  in  the  settlement  of  the  country,  the  ex- 
tension of  railways,  and  other  means  of  communi- 
cation, and  the  opening  up  of  mineral  deposits  have 
greatly  increased  the  means  of  obtaining  information, 
and  detailed  explorations  have  been  in  progress 
under  the  Geological  Survey  of  Canada.  At  this 
moment,  under  the  new  Director  of  the  Survey,  Dr. 
G.  M.  Dawson,  much   work  is   being   done   in  this 

895 


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296 


APPENDIX 


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difficult  field,  more  espccirilly  by  Dr.  Ells,  Dr. 
Adams,  and  Mr.  Barlow,  which  it  may  be  hoped 
will  go  far  to  settle  finally  the  arrangement  and 
distribution  of  pre-Cambrian  rocks  in  the  Northern 
part  of  the  American  Continent.  The  maps  and 
detailed  reports  representing  these  explorations  are 
not  yet  before  the  public,  but  from  some  preliminary 
notices  which  have  appeared  in  scientific  periodicals, 
it  may  be  inferred  that  the  distinction  between  the 
fundamental  gneiss,  with  its  associated  igneous  pro- 
ducts, and  the  Upper  Laurcntian,  will  become 
greater  than  was  supposed  by  Logan.  The  Lowest 
Laurentian  or  Trembling  Mountain  series  of  Logan 
now  represents  a  very  widely  extended  basement 
formation,  not  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  com- 
posed of  sedimentary  rocks  in  a  metamorphosed 
state,  but  rather  of  peculiar  aqueo-igneous  materials, 
different  from  the  greater  part  of  those  which 
succeeded  them,  and  associated  with  varied  and 
extensive  igneous  intrusions  and  in-tneltings  like 
those  which  Keilhau  ascertained  long  ago  in  the 
case  of  similar  rocks  in  Norway.  The  Grenville 
series,  on  the  other  hand,  may  prove  to  be  a 
remnant  of  an  overlying  system,  originally  less 
extensive  or  bordering  the  older  group,  and  greatly 


Fig.  6o. — Eozoon  Canadense. 

Portion  of  a  large  specimen.     Nature-printed.    Siiowing  the  laminse,  and  irregular 
cavities  fillei  with  serpentine,  perhaps  corresponding  to  the  funnels. 


! 


I 


APPENDIX 


297 


attenuated  by  the  enormous  denudation   which  the 
whole  region  has  undergone.     It  may  also  be  found 
that    the   beds    of    limestone   are    fewer   and    their 
repetitions  more  numerous  than  had  been  supposed, 
and  that  the  Grenville  series  may  be  closely  associ- 
ated locally,  at  least,  with  beds  hitherto  of  uncertain 
age,  or  associated  with  the  Lower  Huron ian.     The 
Huronian  proper,  on  the  other  hand,  may   be  con- 
siderably extended,  and  the  Kewenian  and  Animikc 
series    overlying    it   have   already   been    ascertained 
by  the  Canadian  Geological    Survey  to  overlap  the 
Huronian   and   Lauren tian   over  vast  areas  between 
the  great  lakes  and  the  Arctic  sea,  evidencing  much 
submergence  at  the  close  of  the  Huronian  age,  and 
opening  of  the  Palaeozoic.     I   have  noticed    in   the 
text  the  apparently  wide  development  of  deposits  of 
this  age  over  the  area  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  of 
Canada,   and   the    corresponding    territories    in    the 
United  States.     There  would   seem   to  be  in   these 
regions    a   great    thickness   of  unaltered    sediments 
between   the    Lower   Cambrian    and   the  crystalline 
rocks   below,   representing   the  Huronian   and   Lau- 
rentian.     In   these   very  few   fossils   have   yet   been 
found,  but  they  afford  perhaps   the  most  promising 
field,  next  to  their  representatives  in  Newfoundland 


--r 


'  ■fl 


i  'IIP!'  '! ! 


l:i 


:i 


298 


APPENDIX 


and  New  Brunswick,  for  the  discovery  of  the  pre- 
decessors of  the  Olenellus  fauna,  and  the  forms  of 
life  connecting  these  with  those  known  in  the 
Huronian  and  Laurentian.  [For  summaries  of  facts 
on  the  last-mentioned  subject,  see  Report  of  Dr.  G. 
M.  Dawson  on  the  Kamloops  map-sheet,  in  "Reports 
of  Geological  Survey  of  Canada,"  vol.  vii.  B,  new 
series,  pp.  29  et  seq.  ;  also  Reports  of  Dr.  C.  D. 
Walcott,  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  vol.  xiv.,  Part  I., 
pp.   103  et  seq.y  and  Part  II.,  pp.  503  et  seq.] 


B.    Preservation  of  Organic  Remains  by 
Injection  with  Hydrous  Silicates. 

The  late  Dr.  T.  Sterry  Hunt  contributed  to  the 
original  paper  on  Eozoon  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Geological  Society^  a  valuable  essay  on  the  minerali- 
zation of  fossils  by  serpentine,  glauconite,  and 
allied  hydrous  silicates.  This  was  in  part  reprinted 
in  the  notes  appended  to  one  of  the  chapters  of 
"The  Dawn  of  Life,"  and  the  subject  was  further 
discussed  by  Hunt  in  his  invaluable  work,  "  Chemi- 
cal and  Geological  Essays,"  and  more  especially  in 
the  chapter  on  the  "  Origin  of  Crystalline  Rocks,"  a 


APPENDIX 


299 


chapter  which  every  geologist  deserving  the  name 
should  study  with  care. 

I  give  here  some  of  the  more  important  facts 
referred  to  by  Hunt,  and  may  add  that  subsequent 
microscopic  studies  have  familiarized  me  with  the 
occurrence  of  serpentine  and  other  hydrous  silicates 
as  fillings  of  the  cavities  of  fossils  of  various  geo- 
logical ages,  insomuch  that  I  have  come  to  regard 
the  occurrence  of  these  rocks  in  association  with 
fossiliferous  limestones  as  among  the  best  available 
means  to  enable  us  to  ascertain  the  minute  struc- 
tures of  shells,  Foraminifera,  corals,  etc. 

The  following  remarks  and  analyses  further  illus- 
trate Hunt's  views  on  the  relations  of  these  minerals, 
with  some  of  the  facts  on  which  they  are  based  : — 

"  In  connection  with  the  Eozoon  it  is  interesting 
to  examine  more  carefully  into  the  nature  of  the 
matters  which  have  been  called  glauconite  or  green- 
sand.  These  names  have  been  given  to  substances 
of  unlike  composition,  which,  however,  occur  under 
similar  conditions,  and  appear  to  be  chemical  de- 
posits from  water,  filling  cavities  in  minute  fossils, 
or  forming  grains  in  sedimentary  rocks  of  various 
ages.  Although  greenish  in  colour,  and  soft  and 
earthy  in  texture,  it  will   be  seen  that  the  various 


300 


APPENDIX 


m 


glauconites  differ  widely  in  composition.  The 
variety  best  known,  and  commonly  regarded  as  the 
type  of  the  glauconites,  is  that  found  in  the  green- 
sand  of  Cretaceous  age  in  New  Jersey,  and  in  the 
Tertiary  of  Alabama  ;  the  glauconite  from  the 
Lower  Silurian  rocks  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  is 
identical  with  it  in  composition.  Analysis  shows 
these  glauconites  to  be  essentially  hydrous  silicates 
of  protoxyd  of  iron,  with  more  or  less  alumina,  and 
smcill  but  variable  quantities  of  magnesia,  besides  a 
notable  amount  of  potash.  This  alkali  is,  however, 
sometimes  wanting,  as  appears  from  the  analysis  of 
a  green-sand  from  Kent,  in  England,  by  that  care- 
ful chemist,  the  late  Dr.  Edward  Turner,  and  in 
another  examined  by  lierthier,  from  the  calcaire 
grassier^  near  Paris,  which  is  essentially  a  serpentine 
in  composition,  being  a  hydrous  silicate  of  magnesia 
and  protoxyd  of  iron.  A  comparison  of  these  last 
two  will  show  that  the  loganite,  which  fills  the 
ancient  Foraminifer  of  Burgess,  is  a  silicate  nearly 
related  in  composition. 

I.  Green-sand  from  the  calcaire  grassier^  near 
Paris.  Berthier  (cited  by  Beudant,  "  Mineralogie," 
ii.,  178). 

II.  Green-sand  from  Kent,  England.     Dr.  Edward 


APPENDIX 


301 


Turner  (cited    by    Rogers,    Final    Report,   Geol.    N. 
Jersey,  page  206). 

III.  Logan ite  from  the  Eozoon  of  Burgess. 

IV.  Green-sand,  Lower  Silurian;  Red  Bird,  Min- 
nesota. 

V.  Green-sand,  Cretaceous,  New  Jersey. 

VI.  Green-sand,  Lower  Silurian,  Orleans  Island. 
The  last  four  analyses  are  by  myself." 


I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

Silica 

•               1 

1        40*0 

48-5 

35"i4 

46-58 

5070 

507 

Protoxyd  of 

iron 

247 

22  "O 

860 

2061 

2250 

8-6 

Magnesia . 

1 6-6 

3-8 

3i"47 

1-27. 

216 

37 

Lime 

3-3 

2 '49 

III 

Alumina  . 

17 

17-0 

1015 

11-45 

803 

19-8 

Potash      . 

traces 

6-96 

5-80 

8-2 

Soda         • 

-98 

75 

•5 

Water      , 

12-6 

7-0 

14-64 

9-66 

8-95 

8-5 

98 -9    98-3    icx)oo  1 0000  icxjoo  1 00-0 


near 


An  eminent  example  is  the  Silurian  limestone  of 
Pole  Hill,  in  New  Brunswick,  collected  by  the  late 
Mr.  Robb,  of  the  Geological  Survey,  and  referred  to 
in  the  text.  I  cannot  doubt  that  the  silicate 
injecting  Crinoids  and  other  fossils  in  this  limestone 
must  have  been  introduced  into  these  when  still 
recent,  and  the  same  remark  applies  to  the  serpen- 


tl 


i: 


■V 


mi  \ 


'» 


■lit 


302 


APPENDIX 


tine  filling  a  coral  at  Lake  Chebogamong,  and  frag- 
ments of  corals  at  Melbourne,  in  Eastern  Canada, 
and  to  the  similar  mineral  filling  fossils  in  a 
limestone  from  Llangwyllog,  in  Wales,  and  in  that 
of  Maxville,  Ohio.  Hunt  regarded  all  these  as 
coming  essentially  into  the  same  category  as  regard 
to  general  composition  and  properties.  His  analysis 
of  the  minerals  from  Pole  Hill  and  Llangwyllog  is 
as  follows : — 


Pole  Hill. 

Llangwyllog 

Silica 

• 

38-93 

.       .       .       .     35"32 

Alumina  . 

• 

28-88 

.       22'66 

Protoxyd  of 

iron 

18-861 

•    24-12^ 

Magnesia. 

•                t 

4-25 

.     .     .     .    696 

Potash     . 

• 

i"69 

1*40 

Soda 

•               i 

.       .           -48] 

.     ,     .     .    0-67; 

Water      . 

•               t 

6*91 

.    11*46 

Insoluble,  quartz 

lOO'OO 


9989 


These  minerals  approach  in  composition  to  the 
jollyte  of  Von  Kobell,  from  which  they  differ  in  con- 
taining a  portion  of  alkalies,  and  only  one  half  as 
much  water.  In  these  respects  they  agree  nearly 
with  the  silicate  found  by  Robert  Hoffman,  at 
Raspenau,  in  Bohemia,  where  it  occurs  in  thin 
layers  alternating  with  picrosmine,  and  surrounding 


APPENDIX 


303 


masses  of  Eozoon  in  the  Laurentian  limestones  of 
that  region ;  >  the  Eozoon  itself  being  there  injected 
with  a  hydrous  silicate  which  may  be  described  as 
intermediate  between  glauconite  and  chlorite  in 
composition." 

In  the  Welsh  specimen  the  silicate  is  of  a  deep 
green  colour,  except  where  oxidized,  and  though 
only  3  per  cent,  of  the  whole,  is  sufficient  to  give  it 
an  olive  colour  and  slight  serpentinous  lustre.  In 
the  Pole  Hill  material,  the  silicate  amounts  to  5 
per  cent,  of  the  whole,  and  is  of  a  greyish  colour. 
For  some  further  particulars,  see  my  Paper  on 
"Fossils  Mineralized ^with  Silicates"  (Journal  Geo- 
logical Society ^  February,  1 879). 


C    Affinities  of  Eozoon,  etc.,  with 
MORE  Modern  Forms. 

Dr.  Carpenter,  who  in  admirable  papers,  which  I 
need  not  quote  here,^  has  illustrated   in  detail   the 


»  Joum.fur  Prakt  Chemie,  Bd.,  106  (1869),  p.  356. 
*  I  may  specially  refer  to  the  following  :— 
W.    B.    Carpenter  on      Eozoon     Canadense.     Intellectual 
Observer,  No.  xL,  p.  300,  1S65.    Supplemental  notes  on  the 


1  I 


304 


Ari'ENDlX 


i 


structures  of  Eozoon,  and  shown  its  resemblance  to 
modern  forms,  places  Eozoon  as  a  generalized  type 
between  the  Nummuline  and  Rotaline  groups  of 
Foraminifera.  It  resembles  the  former  in  its  fine 
and  complicated  tubulations,  and  some  of  the 
larger  sessile  forms  of  the  latter  in  its  habit  of 
growth.  More  especially,  this  is  near  to  that  of 
the  genera  Carpenteria  and  Polytrema.  In  the 
former,  more  especially,  there  are  a  number  of 
somewhat  flattened  calcareous  cells  with  perforated 
walls,  and  built  up  in  a  conical  form  arout.d  a 
central  pipe  or  funnel  into  which  the  apertures  of 
the  cells  open.     A  specimen  of  Carpenteria,  enlarged 


ill 


structure  and  aflfinities  of  Eozoon  Canadense,  Quart.  Journ. 
Geol.  Soc,  Lond.  Vol.  xxii.,  pp.  219-228,  1866.  Notes  on 
the  structures  and  afifinities  of  Eozoon  Canadense.  Canad. 
Nat.^  new  sen,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  111-119,  wood-cut,  1865.  A  reprint 
from  Quart.  Journ.  Gcol.  Soc,  Lond.,  1865.  Further  obser- 
vations on  the  structure  and  affinities  of  Eozoon  Canadense. 
In  a  letter  to  the  President.  Pfoc.  Roy.  Soc,  Lond.,  vol.  xxv., 
pp.  503-508,  1867.  New  observations  on  Eozoon  Canadense. 
Ann.  and  Mag.  Nat.  Hist.,  ser.  4,  vol.  xiii.,  pp.  456-470,  one 
plate,  1874.  Final  note  on  Eozoon  Canadense.  Ann.  and 
Mag.  Nat.  Hist.,  ser.  4,  vol.  xiv.,  pp.  371-372,  1874.  Remarks 
on  Mr.  H.  J.  Carter's  letter  to  Prof.  King  on  the  structure  of 
the  so-called  Eozoon  Canadense.  Ann.  and  Mag.  Nat.  Hist., 
ser.  4,  vol.  xiii.,  pp.  277-284,  with  two  engravings,  1874. 


ArrtiNDix 


30s 


and  having  the  walls  of  its  cells  thickened  by  a 
supplemental  tubulated  deposit  like  that  of  Calcar- 
ina,  would  approach  very  near  to  Eozoon. 

The  question  of  the  general  relation  of  an  organ- 
ism like  Eozoon  to  creatures  known  to  us  in  the 
modern  seas  may  be  answered  in  either  of  two 
ways: — (i)  Functionally  or  in  relation  to  the  posi- 
tion of  such  an  animal  in  nature :  or  (2)  Zoologi- 
cally, or  with  reference  to  its  affinities  to  other 
animals.  With  reference  to  the  first  consideration, 
the  answer  is  plain.  The  geological  function  of 
Eozoon  was  that  of  a  collector  of  calcareous  matter 
from  the  surrounding  waters,  then  probably  very 
rich  in  calcium  carbonate,  and  its  role  was  the  same 
with  that  of  the  Stromatoporre  and  calcareous 
Sponges,  smaller  Foraminifera  and  Corals  in  latter 
times.  The  answer  to  the  second  aspect  of  the 
question  is  less  easy.  An  ordinary  observer  would 
at  once  place  Eozoon  with  the  Stromatoporidai  or 
Layer-corals,  which  fill  or  even  constitute  whole 
beds  of  limestone  in  the  Cambro-Silurian,  Silurian 
and  Devonian  Periods.  While,  however,  Eozoon 
has  been  claimed  on  the  highest  authority  for  the 
Rhizopods,  the  Stromatoporae  and  their  allies  have 
been    regarded    as    Sponges,   or    more    recently   as 

20 


3o6 


APPENDIX 


Hydroids  allied  to  the  Hydractini'ju  and  Millepores.' 
I  confess  that  I  am  not  satisfied  with  these  inter- 
pretations. I  have  in  my  collections  large  numbers 
of  encrusting  spinous  forms,  usually  called  Stroma- 
toporjE,  but  which  I  have  long  set  aside  as  probably 
Hydractiniae.  There  are  other  forms  with  large 
vertical  tubes  which  I  have  regarded  as  corals,  but 
some  Stromatoporae  seem  to  be  different  from  either, 
and  I  am  still  disposed  to  regard  many  of  them  as 
Protozoa,  Bearing  in  mind,  however,  that  the 
Silurian  is  as  remote  from  the  Laurentian  on  the 
one  hand  as  from  the  Tertiary  on  the  other,  we 
might  be  prepared  to  expect  that  if  the  Layer-corals 
of  the  Silurian  are  divisible  into  different  groups, 
somewhat  widely  separated,  and  we  have  in  the 
lower  Palaeozoic  the  peculiar  type  of  Cryptozoon, 
we  may  be  prepared  to  expect  in  the  Laurentian 
much  more  generalized  forms,  less  susceptible  of 
classification  in  our  modern  systems.  If,  therefore, 
Eozoon  were  accessible  to  us  in  a  living  state,  I 
should  not  be  surprised  to  find  that — while  perhaps 
more  akin  to  the  calcareous-shelled  Rhizopods  than 
to  any  other  modern  group — it  may  have  presented 

^  See  Nicholson  and  Murie's  able  memoirs,  Publications  of 
Pal.  Soc,  1885. 


I 


APPENDIX 


307 


points  of  resemblance  to  Sponges  or  even  to 
Hydroids,  in  its  skeleton  and  mode  of  growth,  and 
even  in  the  arrangement  of  its  soft  parts. 

Taking  this  view  of  its  nature  and  relations,  the 
genus  and  the  Laurentian  species  may  be  charac- 
terized as  follows : — 

Genus  EozoON,  Dawson. 
Foraminiferal  skeletons,  with  irregular  and  often 
confluent  cells,  arranged  in  concentric  and  horizon- 
tal laminae,  or  sometimes  piled  in  an  acervuline  man- 
ner. Septal  orifices  irregularly  disposed.  Proper 
wall  finely  tubulated.  Intermediate  skeleton  with 
branching  canals. 

EozooN  Canadense,  Dawson. 
In  inverted  conical  or  rounded  masses  or  thick 
encrusting  sheets,  frequently  of  large  dimensions. 
Typical  structure  stromatoporoid,  or  with  concentric 
calcareous  walls,  frequently  uniting  with  each  other, 
and  separating  flat  chambers,  more  or  less  mam- 
millated,  and  spreading  into  horizontal  lobes  and 
small  chamberlets ;  chambers  often  confluent  and 
crossed  by  irregular  calcareous  pillars  connecting  the 
opposite  walls.  Upper  part  often  composed  of 
acervuline  chambers  of  rounded  forms,    Proper  wall 


3o8 


APPENDIX 


0 , 


If 


:=^ 


tubulated  very  finely.  Intermediate  skeleton  largely 
developed,  especially  at  the  lower  part,  and  traversed 
by  large  branching  canals,  often  with  smaller  canals 
in  their  interstices.  Lower  laminae  and  chambers 
often  three  millimetres  in  thickness.  Upper  laminae 
and  chambers  one  millimetre  or  less.  Age  Upper 
Lauren tian  and  perhaps  Huronian. 

Var.  MINOR.  —  Supplemental  skeleton  wanting, 
except  near  the  base,  and  with  very  fine  canals. 
LaminiE  of  sarcode  much  mammillated,  thin,  and 
separated  by  very  thin  walls.  Probably  a  depauper- 
ated variety. 

Var.  ACERVULINA. — In  oval  or  rounded  masses, 
wholly  acervuline.  Cells  rounded  ;  intermediate 
skeleton  absent  or  much  reduced  ;  cell-walls  tubu- 
lated. This  may  be  a  distinct  species,  but  it  closely 
resembles  the  acervuline  parts  of  the  ordinary  form. 

Assuming  the  Archa^ospherinae  so  abundantly 
found  in  the  Eozoon  limestones  to  be  distinct 
organisms,  and  not  mere  germs  or  buds  of  Eozoon, 
they  may  be  thus  defined  : — 

Genus  Arch^ospiierina,  Dawson. 
A  provisional  genus,  to  include  rounded  solitary 
chambers,  or  globigerine  assemblages  of  such  cham- 


APPENDIX 


309 


bers,  with  the  cell-wall  surrounding  them  tubulated 
as  in  Eozoon,  or  perhaps  in  some  cases  with  simple 
pores  like  those  of  Rotalines.  They  may  be  dis- 
tinct organisms,  or  gemmae,  or  detached  fragments 
of  Eozoon.  Some  of  them  much  resemble  the  bodies 
figured  by  Dr.  Carpenter,  as  gemmae  or  ova  and 
primitive  chambers  of  Orbitolites.  They  are  very 
abundant  on  some  of  the  strata  surfaces  of  the 
limestones  at  Cote  St.  Pierre.  Age  Upper  Lauren- 
tian. 

I  may  add  here  the  characters  of  Matthew's  new 
genus,  Archaeozoon,  as  given  by  him : — 

Genus  Arch^OZOON,  Matthew. 

Skeleton  composed  of  thin  concentric  laminae 
convex  upward,  and  having  between  them  a  granu- 
lar layer  filled  with  minute  branching  canals. 

Arch/EOZOON  Acadiense,  Matthew. 

Habit  of  growth  cylindrical  in  masses  or  groups, 
budding  upward.  The  microscopic  characters  are 
thus  given  by  Matthew  :  ^ — 

"The  structures  appear  to  be  allied  more  closely 
to   Cryptozoon   than   to   Eozoon.     The   microscopic 

'  Bulletin  No.  ix,,  Nat.  Hist.  Soc.  of  New  Brunswick,  1890. 


310 


APPENDIX 


1 


III 


structure  is  most  easily  recognised  in  the  earthy 
(as  distinguished  from  the  calcareous)  layers,  and, 
consists  of  minute  branching  canals.  Under  a  one- 
inch  objective  the  smaller  canals  have  the  appear- 
ance of  minute  threads,  which  run  sometimes  for  a 
distance  of  two  millimetres  without  branching.  The 
larger  canals  branch  more  frequently  and  are  more 
sinuous.  The  canals  cross  and  anastomose  with 
each  other ;  they  run  chiefly  at  right  angles  to  the 
axis  of  the  fossil,  and  appear  to  branch  most  in 
going  outward  from  the  centre.  More  rarely  they 
ascend  from  the  earthy  to  the  calcareous  layer, 
branching  upward." 

In  limestone  of  the  Upper  Laurentian,  near  St. 
John,  New  Brunswick. 


D.    Cryptozoon. 

The  description  above  given  of  Archaeozoon  very 
naturally  leads  us  to  consider  the  allied  Cambrian 
and  pre-Cambrian  forms  known  as  Cryptozoon. 

This  remarkable  and  problematical  type  was  first 
described  by  Prof.  James  Hall  in  the  Appendix  to 
his  Annual  Report  of  1882  (No.  26).  It  is  a  large 
massive  organism,  occurring  abundantly  on  the  sur- 


n  I 


APPENDIX 


3" 


face  of  a  limestone  of  Calciferous  (Upper  Cambrian) 
age    at    Greenfield,    Saratoga    County,   New   York. 
The  individuals  sometimes  attain  a  diameter  of  two 
feet,   and   are   often    surrounded   by   smaller    speci- 
mens   apparently    budding    off   from    them.      Like 
Stromatoporse,  they  consist  of  concentric  lamina,^  but 
these   are   concave    upward,   giving    a    bowl-shaped 
form  to  the  summits  of  the  individuals.     Prof  Hall 
describes  them  as  "  made  up  of  irregular  concentric 
laminae  of  greater  or  less  density,  and  of  very  un- 
equal  thickness.     The   substance   between  the   con- 
centric lines  in  well-preserved  specimens  is  traversed 
by    numerous    minute     irregular     canaliculi    which 
branch    and    anastomose    without    regularity.     The 
central  portion   of  the   masses   is  usuallx'  filled   with 
crystalline  granular  and  Oolitic  material,  and  many 
specimens  show  the  intrusion  of  these  extraneous  and 
inorganic  substances  between  the  laminae." 

Professor  Hall  having  kindly  presented  some 
good  specimens  to  the  Peter  Red  path  Museum,  I 
have  had  sections  made,  and  have  thus  been  able 
to  verify  his  description,  and  to  compare  the  struc- 
tures with  those  of  some  of  the  more  ancient 
Stromatoporoid  specimens  in  our  collections,  in- 
cluding  the   Archaeozoon  from    New   Brunswick,  of 


312 


APPENDIX 


:;i  1 
■'1!  I 


which  Mr.  Matthew  has  presented  a  fine  slab  to 
the  Museum.  I  have  also,  through  the  kindness 
of  Professor  Winchell,  been  enabled  to  compare 
these  with  his  Cryptozoon  Mmnesotense,  and  Dr. 
Walcott  has  added  specimens  of  his  Stromatoporoid 
forms  from  the  pre-Cambrian  beds  of  Arizona.  It 
would  appear  from  these  and  other  specimens  in 
our  collections  from  the  Cambrian  and  older 
Ordovician  beds,  that  we  have  here  an  ancient  type 
of  Stromatoporoid  organism  in  which  the  original 
laminae  seem  to  have  been  thin  and  coriaceous, 
without  apparent  pores  or  pillars  connecting  them 
with  each  other,  but  having  between  them  relatively- 
thick  layers  of  fine  fragmental  matter  penetrated  by 
numerous  irregularly  tortuous  and  branching  tubes. 
The  laminre  often  present  a  carbonaceous  or 
chitinous  appearance,  though  frequently  replaced  by 
mineral  matter,  and  the  intervening  layers  show 
both  a  calcareous  and  carbonaceous  substance,  with 
much  fine  silicious  sand  often  as  rounded  grains, 
and  apparently  some  dolomitic  granules.  The 
tubules  seem  destitute  of  any  distinct  wall,  other- 
wise the  whole  would  resemble  on  a  large  scale  the 
nodular  and  laminated  masses  of  Girvanella,  which 
Wethered    has    described    as    surrounding    organic 


APPENDIX 


313 


fragments  in  Silurian  and  Carboniferous  and  Jurassic 
limestones  in  England.  ^ 

The  Streptochetus  of  Seely  from  the  Chazy  lime- 
stone 2  is   evidently  very  near  to  Girvanella,  if  not 
generically  identical,  and   I   have   a   similar   species 
from    the    Lower    Cambrian    pebbles    in    the    con- 
glomerates   of   the    Quebec    group.      In   all    these 
forms,  however,  the  thicker  or  intermediate  laminae 
seem  to  consist  wholly  of  definite  convoluted  tubes, 
whereas   in    Cryptozoon   the   tubes,   or   tubular  per- 
forations, are  separated  by  a  mass  of  material  which 
in  the  best  preserved  specimens  seems  to  consist  of 
a  fibrous   stroma    including  calcareous  and  silicious 
particles.     It  seems  doubtful  to  what  class  of  beings 
such   a  structure  should   be  referred ;    but  whatever 
its  nature,  it  evidently  had  great  powers  of  growth, 
and  seems  to  be  a  >^ery  ancient  form  of  life. 

One  of  the  species  similar  \n  structure  to  Hall's 
type,  but  budding  out  into  turbinate  branches,  was 
discovered  by  Mr.  E.  T.  Chambers,  of  Montreal,  in 
the  Ordovician  limestone  of  Lake  St.  John,  and  has 
been  named  C.  boreale.  It  differs  in  structure  from 
Hall's    species    in    having    the    tubes    less    tortuous 

^  British  Association,  Liverpool  meeting,  1896. 
•^  Amer.  Journ.  of  Science.  1885.     See  Nicholson,  "Manual 
of  Palagontology,"  ed.  of  1889. 


314  APPENDIX 


,« 


I 


and  more  nearly  parallel  to  the  laminae.  In  its 
outline  it  reminds  one  of  the  problematical  Eozoon 
from  the  Hastings  group  at  Tudor,  Ontario,  referred 
to  in  the  text. 

Should  time  permit,  I  hope  to  have  all  the  speci- 
mens in  our  collections  illustrating  this  interesting 
and  primitive  type  examined  and  described.  In 
the  meantime  I  may  merely  remark  that  a  near 
modern  analogue  would  seem  to  be  the  gigantic 
arenaceous  Foraminifer  Neusina  Agassizi,  Goes, 
dredged  by  Alexander  Agassiz  in  the  Pacific,  and 
described  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Museum  of  Com- 
parative Zoology  (Vol.  xxiii..  No.  5,  1892).  The 
modern  form,  it  is  true,  is  flat  and  foliaceous ;  but 
some  of  the  old  species  approach  to  this  shape,  and 
if  we  suppose  the  little  cells  of  Neusina  to  represent 
the  tubes  of  Cryptozoon,  and  the  carbonaceous 
matter  of  the  latter  to  be  the  remains  of  the 
chitinous  stroma  seen  in  some  specimens,  the  general 
resemblance  will  be  very  close. 

The  whole  subject  of  these  peculiar  Stromato- 
poroid  forms  extending  from  the  Upper  Cambrian 
to  the  Laurentian,  deserves  a  full  and  careful 
investigation,  for  which  I  am  endeavouring  to 
collect  material. 


r 


t 
k 


APPENDIX 


315 


E.    Receptaculites  and  Arch^ocyathus. 

In  "The  Dawn  of  Life"  (1875),  reference  was 
made  to  the  singular  and  complicated  organisms  of 
the  Upper  Cambrian  and  Ordovician  systems  known 
as  Receptaculites,  which  at  that  time  was  generally 
regarded  as  foraminiferal,  and  is  still  placed  by 
Zittel,  in  his  great  work  on  Palaeontology,  among 
forms  doubtfully  referable  to  that  group.  It  has 
also  been  referred  to  Sponges,  though  on  very 
uncertain  grounds.  It  has  not,  however,  so  far  as  I 
am  informed,  been  traced  any  farther  back  than  the 
Upper  Cambrian  (Calciferous),  and  no  structural 
links  are  known  to  connect  it  with  either  Eozoon  or 
Archaeozoon.  For  this  reason  it  was  omitted  in  the 
text ;  but  I  think  it  well  to  mention  it  here,  and 
to  direct  attention  to  it  as  possibly  one  of  the 
complex  Protozoa  which  may  be  traced  far  back 
toward  the  beginnings  of  life.^ 

Another  primitive  and  generalized  genus  men- 
tioned in  the  text  is  Arch(eocyathus  of  Billings, 
whose  headquarters  seem  to  be  in  the  Lower  Cam- 
brian, and  which  may  probably  be  traced  farther 
back. 


*  Billings,  "  Palaeozoic  Times." 


3i6 


APPENDI>t 


Mr.  Billings  described  the  genus  in  his  "  Report 
on  Canadian  Fossils"  (1861-64),  taking  A. profundus^ 
from  the  Lower  Cambrian  of  L'Anse  ^  Loup,  on  the 
Labrador  coast,  in  the  first  instance,  as  the  type. 

A  few  years  later,  my  attention  was  attracted  to 
this  species  by  specimens  presented  to  me  by  Mr. 
Carpenter,  a  missionary  on  the  Labrador  coast,  and 
which  Mr.  Billings  kindly  permitted  me  to  compare 
with  his  specimens  in  the  Museum  of  the  Geologi- 
cal Survey,  collected  by  the  late  Mr.  Richardson,  at 
L'Anse  ^  Loup,  in  Labrador,  in  what  were  then 
called  Lower  Potsdam  rocks.  Slices  of  the  speci- 
mens were  made  for  the  microscope,  when  it 
appeared  that,  though  they  had  the  general  aspect 
of  turbinate  corals,  like  Petraia,  etc.,  they  were  quite 
dissimilar  in  structure,  more  especially  in  their 
porous  outer  and  inner  walls  and  septa  (see  Fig.  5, 
P-  35)-  Y^t  they  could  scarcely  be  referred  to  the 
group  of  porous  corals  known  in  much  later  forma- 
tions and  in  the  modern  seas.  Nor  could  they  be 
referred  with  much  probability  to  Sponges,  as  they 
were  composed  of  solid  calcareous  plates,  which,  as 
was  evident  from  their  textures,  could  not  have 
been  originally  spicular.  One  seemed  thus  shut  up 
to  the  conclusion  that  their  nearest  alliance  was  with 


APPENDIX 


317 


Foraminifcra,  and  if  so,  they  were  very  large  and 
complex  forms  of  that  group,  consisting  of  perfor- 
ated chambers  arranged  around  a  central  cavity. 
I  accordingly  mentioned  them  in  this  connection  in 
1875,  not  as  closely  related  to  Eozoon,  but  as 
apparently  showing  the  existence  of  very  complex 
foraminiferal  forms  in  the  Lower  Cambrian. 

The  specimens  thus  noticed  were  altogether  cal- 
careous, and  were  of  the  species  named  A.  profundus 
by  Mr.  Billings.  He  had,  however,  referred  to  the 
same  genus  silicified  specimens  from  a  later  forma- 
tion, the  Calciferous  (Upper  Cambrian)  at  Mingan, 
under  the  name  A.  Miuganensis,  which  were 
subsequently  found  to  be  associated  with  spicules 
resembling  those  of  lithistid  sponges,  and  which 
proved  to  be  very  different  from  the  Lower  Cam- 
brian form,  and  are  now  referred  to  a  different 
genus.  The  subject  had  thus  become  involved  in 
some  confusion,  and  was  left  in  this  state  by  Mr. 
Billings  on  his  death.  I  therefore  asked  my  friend, 
Dr.  Hinde,  of  London,  to  re-examine  my  specimens, 
and  at  the  same  time  those  of  the  Geological  Survey 
were  placed  in  his  hands  by  Mr.  Whiteaves.  Hinde 
also  obtained  specimens  from  Lower  Cambrian  rocks 
in  Sardinia,  where  they  seem  to  be  abundant,  and 


318 


APPENDIX 


from  Spain.  He  states  the  results  of  his  examina- 
tions very  fully  in  a  paper  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Geological  Society  of  London}  He  retains  the  origi- 
nal name  for  the  older  and  calcareous  form  from 
L'Anse  a  Loup,  separating  from  it,  however,  another 
form,  A.  Atlanticiis  of  Billings's,  which  is  destitute  of 
distinct  radiating  septa  and  acervuline,  like  the  lower 
part  of  A.  profundus.  This  he  names  Spirocyathus. 
The  Mingan  species  he  places  with  Sponges  under  the 
generic  name,  Arch(Soscyphia.  In  this  Walcott  sub- 
stantially agrees  with  Hinde  in  his  "  Memoir  on 
the  Lower  Cambrian  Fauna,"  Both  seem  to  refer 
Archaeocyathus  to  corals,  though  admitting  its  very 
exceptional  and  anomalous  structure.  I  think,  how- 
ever, we  may  still  be  allowed  to  entertain  some  doubts 
as  to  the  reference  to  corals,  more  especially  as  the 
skeleton  does  not  seem  to  have  consisted  of  aragonite, 
but  of  ordinary  calcite,  like  that  of  the  Foraminifera. 
It  is  in  any  case  a  primitive  form  which  seems  to  be 
dying  out  in  the  Lower  Cambrian,  and  we  may  hope 
that  it  may  be  traced  into  the  pre-Cambrian,  and 
may  form  a  link  connecting  the  Palaeozoic  with  the 
Eozoic   faunas.     In   my  description   of  it  in  "  The 


^  Vol.  xlv.,  1889,  pp.  125  etseg. 


II 


APPENDIX 


319 


Dawn  of  Life"  in  1875,  I  used  the  following 
terms : — "  To  understand  Archaeocyathus,  let  us 
imagine  an  inverted  cone  of  carbonate  of  lime  from 
an  inch  or  two  to  a  foot  in  length,  with  its  point 
planted  in  the  mud  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  while 
its  open  cup  extends  upward  into  the  clear  water. 
The  lower  part  buried  in  the  bottom  is  composed 
of  an  irregular  network  of  thick  calcareous  plates, 
enclosing  chambers  communicating  with  one  another. 
Above  this,  where  the  cup  expands,  its  walls  are 
made  up  of  inner  and  outer  plates,  perforated  with 
numerous  round  pores  in  vertical  rows,  and  con- 
nected with  each  other  by  vertical  partitions  also 
perforated,  so  as  to  establish  a  free  communication 
of  the  enclosed  radiating  chambers  with  each  other, 
as  well  as  with  the  water  within  and  without.  Such 
a  structure  might  no  doubt  serve  as  a  skeleton  for  a 
coral  of  somewhat  peculiar  internal  structure,  but  it 
might  just  as  well  accommodate  a  protozoan  with 
chambers  for  its  sarcode,  and  pores  for  emission  of 
pseudopods,  both  outwardly  and  by  means  of  the 
interior  cup,  which  in  that  case  would  represent  a 
funnel  like  that  of  Carpenteria,  or  one  of  the  tubes 
of  Eozoon." 
On  the  whole,  when  we  consider  the  magnitude 


320 


APPENDIX 


and  synthetic  character  of  such  f(.rins  as  Cryptozoon, 
RcceptacuHtcs,  and  Arch;uocyathus,  and  their  asscjci- 
ation  with  j^enerah'zed  types  of  Crustaceans  and 
lirachiopuds,  we  can  scarcely  fail  to  perceive  that 
at  the  base  of  the  Pabiiozoic  we  are  ieavini;  the 
reign  of  the  higher  marine  invertebrates,  and  enter- 
ing on  a  domain  where  lower  and  probably  Proto- 
zoan forms  must  be  dominant,  and  so  are  getting  at 
least  within  calculable  distance  of  the  beginnings  of 
life. 


F.    Pre-Geological  Evolution. 

Reference  is  incidentally  made  in  the  text  to  the 
doctrine  implied  in  the  old  notion  of  successive 
cataclysms  and  renewals  of  the  earth,  held  by 
some  ancient  mythologies  and  philosophies,  and 
revived  in  a  slightly  different  form  by  Mr.  Herbert 
Spencer,  in  connection  with  the  requirements  of  the 
Darwinian  evolution  by  natural  selection.  This 
primitive  idea  was  illustrated  at  considerable  length 
by  Professor  Poulton  in  his  address  as  President  of 
the  Zoological  Section  of  the  British  Association  at 
its  meeting  in  Liverpool  (September,  1896).  In  this 
new  and  ably  presented  form,  it  deserves  some  notice 


Al'I'ENDlX 


321 


as  excluding  the  hope  of  our  finding  tiie  beginnings 
of  life  in  any  geological  formations  at  present 
known. 

Professor  Poulton  refers  to  the  argument  used 
by  Lord  Salisbury,  in  his  address  at  the  Oxford 
meeting,  on  the  insufficiency  of  time  for  the  require- 
ments of  the  Darwinian  evolution.  He  then  dis- 
cusses the  estimates  based  by  Lord  Kelvin  and 
Professor  Tait  on  physical  considerations,  and 
dismisses  them  as  altogether  inadequate,  though  he 
admits  that  Professor  George  Darwin  agrees  with 
Lord  Kelvin  in  regarding  500  millions  of  years  as 
the  maximum  duration  of  the  life  of  the  sun. 

He  next  takes  up  the  estimates  of  geologists, 
and  rather  blames  as  too  modest  those  who  ask 
for  the  longest  time,  say  400  millions  of  years,  for 
the  duration  of  the  habitable  earth.  He  evidently 
scarcely  deems  worthy  of  notice  the  more  moderate 
demands  of  many  eminent  students  of  the  earth,  who 
have  based  far  lower  estimates  on  more  or  less 
reliable  data  of  denudation  and  deposition,  and  on 
the  thickness  of  deposits  in  connection  with  their 
probable  geographical  extent. 

He  then  proceeds  to  consider  the  biological  evi- 
dence, and  dwells  on  the  number  of  distinct  types 

21 


322 


APPENDIX 


^'  Im 


represented  as  far  back  as  the  Lower  Cambrian. 
Independently  of  the  interpretations  and  explana- 
tions of  this  great  fact,  the  numerous  types  there 
represented,  and  the  persistence  of  some  of  them 
to  the  present  day,  give  an  almost  overwhelming 
impression  of  the  vast  duration  of  organisms  in 
time.  In  connection  with  the  supposed  slow  and 
gradual  process  of  evolution,  this  naturally  leads  to 
the  conclusion  that  "  the  whole  period  in  which  the 
fossiliferous  rocks  were  laid  down  must  be  multi- 
plied several  times  for  this  later  history  (that  of  the 
higher  groups  of  animals  alone).  The  period  thus 
obtained  requires  to  be  again  increased,  and  perhaps 
doubled  for  the  earlier  history."  Ordinary  geologists 
naturally  stand  aghast  at  such  demands,  and  inquire 
if  they  are  seriously  put  forth,  and  if  it  would  not 
be  wise  to  hesitate  before  accepting  a  theory  on 
behalf  of  which  such  drafts  on  time  must  be  made. 
The  late  Edward  Forbes  once  humorously  defined 
a  geologist  to  be  *'an  amiable  enthusiast  who  is 
happy  and  content  if  you  will  give  him  any 
quantity  of  that  which  other  men  least  value, 
namely,  past  time."  But  had  this  great  naturalist 
lived  to  "  post-Darwinian "  times,  he  might  have 
defined   a  Darwinian   biologist   to  be  an   insatiable 


APPENDIX 


323 


enthusiast,  who  feels  himself  a^^grieved  if  not  sup- 
plied with  infinity  itself,  wherein  to  carry  on  the 
processes  of  his  science.  Seriously  however,  the 
necessity  for  indefinitely  protracted  time  does  not 
arise  from  the  facts,  but  from  the  attempt  to  ex- 
plain the  facts  without  any  adequate  cause,  and  to 
appeal  to  an  infinite  series  of  chance  interactions 
apart  from  a  designed  plan,  and  without  regard  to 
the  consideration,  that  we  know  of  no  way  in  which, 
with  any  conceivable  amount  of  time,  the  first 
living  and  organized  beings  could  be  spontaneously 
produced  from  dead  matter.  It  is  this  last  difficulty 
which  really  blocks  the  way,  and  leads  to  the  wish 
to  protract  indefinitely  an  imaginary  process,  which 
must  end  at  last  in  an  insuperable  difficulty. 

Were  Evolutionists  content  to  require  a  reason- 
able time  for  the  development  of  life,  and  to  assign 
this  to  an  adequate  cause,  they  might  see  in  the 
reduction  of  living  things  in  the  pre-Cambrian  ages 
to  few  and  generalized  or  synthetic  types,  evidence 
of  an  actual  approach  to  the  beginnings  of  life,  and 
beyond  this  to  a  condition  of  the  earth  in  which 
life  would  be  impossible. 


324 


APPENDIX 


m 


,  }|: 


I    i>i' 


G.    Controversies  Respecting  Eozoon. 

In  the  text  (Chapter  IX.)  I  have  referred  in 
a  cursory  manner  to  these,  but  have  felt  that  it 
would  be  unprofitable  to  fight  the  old  battles  over 
again,  except  in  so  far  as  the  objections  raised  have 
suggested  new  lines  of  study  and  investigation. 
The  old  objections  of  Messrs.  Rowney,  King  and 
Carter  were  conclusively  replied  to  by  the  late  Dr. 
Carpenter.  The  later  criticisms  of  Mobius  in  his 
elaborated  memoir  in  "  Palxontographica "  were  in 
appearance  more  formidable  ;  but  he  had  evidently 
entered  on  the  question  with  imperfect  material,  and 
a  very  defective  conception  of  its  extent  and  mean- 
ing. His  treatment  of  it  was  also  marked  by 
unfairness  to  those  who  had  previously  worked  at 
the  subject,  and  by  that  narrow  specialism  and 
captious  spirit  for  which  German  naturalists  are  too 
deservedly  celebrated.  The  difficulties  he  raised 
were  met  at  the  time,  more  especially  in  articles 
by  the  present  writer  in  the  American  Journal  of 
Science^  and  in  the  Canadian  Naturalist.  Mobius, 
I  have  no  doubt,  did  his  best  from  his  special  and 
limited  point  of  view ;  but  it  was  a  crime  which 
science  should  not  readily  pardon  or  forget,  on  the 


\t    n 


APPENDIX 


325 


part  of  editors  of  the  German  periodical,  to  publish 
and  illustrate  as  scientific  material  a  paper  which 
was  so  very  far  from  being  either  fair  or  adequate. 

The  later  objections  of  Gregory  and  Lavis  are 
open  to  similar  criticism  as  imperfect  and  partial, 
and  as  confounding  Eozoon  with  mineral  structures 
which  previous  writers  had  carefully  distinguished 
from  it.  I  have  stated  these  points  in  letters  to 
Nature  and  to  the  Council  of  the  Dublin  Academy, 
and  have  also  re-stated  the  evidence  bearing  on  the 
animal  nature  of  Eozoon  in  a  series  of  papers  in  the 
Geological  Magazine  for  1895.  I  "^^7  add  here,  as 
apposite  to  the  present  condition  of  the  matter,  a 
few  remarks  referring  to  the  appearance  of  Eozoon 
in  Dr.  Dallinger's  new  edition  of  Carpenter's  great 
work  on  the  Microscope,^  and  more  especially  to 
his  retaining  unchanged  the  description  of  Eozoon 
Canadense,  as  a  monument  of  an  important  research 
up  to  a  certain  date,  while  adding  a  note  with 
reference  to  the  later  criticisms  of  Mr.  Gregory. 

Dr.  Carpenter  devoted  much  time  to  the  study  of 
Eozoon,  and  brought  to  bear  on  it  his  great  experi- 
ence   of    foraminiferal    forms,    and     his     wonderful 


*  Nature,  March  17,  1892. 


326 


APPENDIX 


powers  of  manipulating  and  unravelling  difficult 
structures.  After  having  spent  years  in  studying 
microscopic  slices  of  Eozoon  and  the  limestones  in 
which  it  occurs,  I  have  ever  felt  new  astonishment 
when  I  saw  the  manner  in  which,  by  various  pro- 
cesses of  slicing  and  etching,  and  by  dexterous 
management  of  light,  he  could  bring  out  the  struc- 
ture of  specimens  often  very  imperfect.  Not  long 
before  Dr.  Carpenter's  death,  I  had  an  opportunity 
to  appreciate  this  in  spending  a  few  days  with  him 
in  studying  his  more  recently  acquired  specimens, 
some  of  them  from  my  own  collections,  and  dis- 
cussing the  new  points  which  they  exhibited,  and 
which  unhappily  he  did  not  live  to  publish.  Some 
of  these  new  facts,  in  so  far  as  they  related  to  speci- 
mens in  our  cabinet  here,  have  since  that  time  been 
noticed  in  my  n^sumi  of  the  question  in  the  "  Memoirs 
of  the  Peter  Redpath  Museum,"  1888. 

Those  who  know  Dr.  Carpenter's  powers  of 
investigation  will  not  be  astonished  that  later 
observers,  without  his  previous  preparation  and  rare 
insight,  and  often  with  only  few  and  imperfect 
specimens,  should  have  failed  to  appreciate  his 
results.  One  is  rather  surprised  that  some  of  them 
have  ventured    to  state  with    so  great    confidence 


APPENDIX 


327 


their  own  negative  conclusions  in  a  matter  of  so 
much  difficulty,  and  requiring  so  much  knowledge 
of  organic  structures  in  various  states  of  minerali- 
zation. For  myself,  after  working  fifty  years  at  the 
microscopic  examination  of  fossils  and  organic  rocks, 
I  feel  more  strongly  than  ever  the  uncertainties  and 
liabilities  to  error  which  beset  such  inquiries. 

As  an  illustration  in  the  case  of  Eozoon :  since 
the  publication  of  my  memoir  of  1888,  which  I  had 
intended  to  be  final  and  exhaustive  as  to  the  main 
points  in  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  have  had 
occasion  to  have  prepared  and  to  examine  about 
200  slices  of  Eozoon  from  new  material ;  and 
while  most  of  these  have  either  failed  to  show  the 
minute  structures  or  have  presented  nothing  new,  a 
few  have  exhibited  certain  parts  in  altogether  un- 
expected perfection,  and  have  shown  a  prevalence 
of  injection  of  the  canal  system  by  dolomite  not 
previously  suspected.  I  have  also  observed  that 
unsuitable  modes  of  preparation,  notably  some  of 
those  employed  in  the  preparation  of  ordinary 
petrological  slices,  may  fail  to  disclose  organic  struc- 
tures in  crystalline  limestones  when  actually  present. 
Since  that  publication  also,  the  discoveries  of  Mr. 
Matthew  in  the  Laurentian  of  New  Brunswick,  and 


328 


APPENDIX 


the  further  study  of  the  singular  Cambrian  forms  of 
the  type  of  Cryptozoon,  have  opened  up  new  fields 
of  inquiry. 

I  think  it  proper  to  state,  in  reference  to  Dr. 
Dallinger's  footnote  on  the  recent  paper  of  Mr. 
Gregory,  that  it  must  not  be  inferred  from  it  that 
Mr.  Gregory  had  access  to  my  specimens  from 
Madoc  and  Tudor,  though  he  no  doubt  had  excel- 
lent material  from  the  collections  of  the  Canadian 
Geological  Survey.  It  might  also  be  inferred  from 
this  note  that  I  have  regarded  the  Madoc  and 
Tudor  specimens  as  "  Lower  Laurentian."  The  fact 
is,  that  I  was  originally  induced  in  1865,  by  the 
belief  of  Sir  W.  E.  Logan  at  that  time  that  these 
rocks  were  representatives  in  a  less  altered  state  of 
the  middle  part  of  the  Laurentian,  to  spend  some 
time  at  Madoc  and  its  vicinity  in  searching  for 
fossils,  but  discovered  only  worm-burrows,  spicules, 
and  fragments  of  Eozoon,  which  were  noticed  in 
the  Journal  of  the  Geological  Society  for  1866. 
(The  more  complete  specimen  from  Tudor  was 
found  by  Vennor  in  1866.)  On  that  occasion  I 
satisfied  myself  fully  that  the  beds  are  much  older 
than  the  Cambro-Silurian  strata  resting  on  them, 
unconformably ;  but  I  felt  disposed  to  regard  them 


APPENDIX 


329 


as  more  probably  of  the  age  of  some  parts  of  the 
Huronian  of  Georgian  Bay,  which  I  had  explored 
with  a  similar  purpose  under  Logan's  guidance  in 
1856. 

[In  my  subsequent  notice  of  the  Tudor  specimens 
in  "The  Dawn  of  Life,"  in  1875,  I  referred  to  their 
age  as  « Upper   Laurentian   or    Huronian " ;  and    I 
may   add,   that   while   it    is   certain   that    the   beds 
containing   them   are   pre-Palaeozoic,   their  place  in 
the  Eozoic  period  is  still  not   precisely  determined. 
Work    is,   however,   now    in    progress   which    it    is 
hoped  may  finally  settle   the  age  of  the  "  Hastings 
group"   and    the   old   rocks   associated    with   it.      I 
may  add  that  the  specimen  of  Cryptozoon  discovered 
by  Mr.  Chambers,  and  of  which  a  portion  is  repre- 
sented in   the  Frontispiece,  seems  to  me   to   throw 
a  new  light  on  the  Tudor  specimen.      It  shows  in 
any  case  the  survival  of  Cryptozoa  similar  in  form 
and   general   appearance   to   that   specimen,  as  late 
as  the  Cambro-Silurian  or  Ordovician.] 


H.    Notes  to  Appendix,  December,  1896. 
While   this  work  was  going  through  the  press,  I 
have   received    the   Report   of   the   U.S.    Geological 


330 


APPENDIX 


Survey  for  1894-95,  containing  the  elaborate  Memoir 
of  C.  R.  Van  Hise  on  the  pre-Cambrian  Geology  of 
North  America.  It  is  a  very  valuable  contribution 
to  the  literature  of  this  difficult  subject,  and  will  con- 
stitute a  standard  book  of  reference :  though  I  think 
the  use  of  the  term  "  Algonkian  "  for  groups  of  beds 
which  are  in  part  basal  Palaeozoic  and  in  part  Eozoic 
or  Archnean  is  to  be  deprecated,  and  scarcely  suffi- 
cient importance  is  attached  to  the  labours  of  the 
early  Canadian  explorers  in  this  field. 

In  the  past  summer  I  was  enabled  to  spend  a  few 
days,  with  the  assistance  of  my  friend  Mr.  H.  Tweed- 
dale  Atkin,  of  Egerton  Park,  Rock  Ferry,  in  examin- 
ing the  supposed  pre-Cambrian  rocks  of  Holyhead 
Island  and  Anglesey.  Fossils  are  very  rare  in  these 
beds.  As  Sir  A.  Geikie  has  shown,  the  quartzite  of 
Holyhead  is  in  some  places  perforated  with  cylindri- 
cal worm-burrows,  and  in  the  micaceous  shales  there 
are  long  cylindrical  cords,  which  may  be  alg.'E  of  the 
genus  Pal(Bochorda^  and  also  bifurcating  fronds  re- 
sembling Chondrites  ;  but  I  saw  no  animal  fossils.  I 
have  so  far  been  unable  to  discover  organic  structure 
in  the  layers  of  limestone  associated  with  apparently 
bedded  serpentine  in  the  southern  part  of  Holyhead 
Island.      In   central    Anglesey   there    are    lenticular 


f  „ 


APPENDIX 


331 


beds  of  limestone  and  dolomite  associated  with  pre- 
Cambrian  rocks,  which  Dr.  Callaway  regards  as  pro- 
bably equivalent  to  the  Pebidian  of  Hicks.  In  these 
there  are  obscure  traces  of  organic  fragments  ;  and  in 
one  bed  near  Bodwrog  Church  I  found  a  rounded 
laminated  body,  which  may  be  an  imperfectly  pre- 
served specimen  of  Cryptozoon,  or  some  allied  or- 
ganism. The  specimens  collected  have  not,  however, 
been  yet  thoroughly  examined.  These  and  other 
pre-Cambrian  deposits  in  Great  Britain  correspond 
in  their  testimony,  with  the  Eozoic  rocks  of  North 
America,  as  to  the  small  number  and  rarity  of  fossil 
remains  in  the  formations  below  the  base  of  the 
Pal.neozoic,  and  the  consequent  probability  that  in 
these  formations  we  are  approaching  to  the  beginning 
of  life  on  our  planet ;  though  there  is  still  reason  to 
hope  that  additional  oases  of  life  may  be  found  in 
these  deserts  of  the  pre-Palaeozoic.  Such  rare  inter- 
vals of  fertility  should  be  the  more  valued  when  the 
labours  of  so  many  skilled  observers  have  proved  so 
meagre  in  their  results  in  comparison  with  the  great 
extent  and  thickness  of  the  beds  which  have  been 
explored. 


I 

%    y 

1 


INDEX 

PAGB 

Adams  on  composition  of  Laurentian  schists     .        .        .     io8 

his  work  on  Laurentian  stratigraphy  . 

.      296 

Animals,  Cambrian,  classes  of   . 

.  7,  1 1 

pre- Cambrian     . 

i 

.      53 

Huronian   .... 

• 

.      67 

Grenvillian 

1 

.       73,  303 

Antiquity,  relative 

6 

Aquatic  animals,  permanence  of 

.       13 

Aragonite  in  fossils     . 

.     117 

Archieocyathus   . 

•       35,315 

Archaiozoon 

■     214,  309 

Barlow,  his  explorations 

■ 

.     296 

Bavaria,  Eozoon  of     . 

1 

71 

Beecher  on  limbs  of  Trilobites 

• 

, 

.      25 

Bicknell  on  Eozoon     . 

» 

« 

.     141 

Billings  on  Eozoon 

. 

.     137 

on  Receptaculites 

1 

1 

315 

on  ArchiEocyathus 

1 

. 

316 

on  Signal  Hill  fossils. 

» 

. 

•      54 

Bonney  on  Cote  St.  Pierre  . 

• 

.    142 

Burbank  on  Chelmsford  Eozoon 

• 

.     141 

Calcarina 

1                      1 

I 

.    186 

Calumet,  Grand,  Eozoon  of 

, 

.     130 

332 


INDEX 


333 


I 


Canals  of  Eozoon        .        . 
Cambrian,  life  of  Early 

geography  of  the 

Carbon  in  Laurentian  limestone 
Carpenter,  Dr.,  on  Eozoon 
Cayeux  on  Huronian  fossils 
Chambers,  Mr.  E.  T.  . 
Chrysotile,  veins  of     . 
Ccenostroma 
Colorado  canon  . 
Controversies  respecting  Eozoon 
Corals,  history  of 
Cote  St.  Pierre  .        •       . 
Cryptozoon.         .        , 

Dallinger,  note  on  Eozoon  . 
Dawson,  Dr.  G.  M.    , 

Ells,  Dr 

Eozoon,  its  discovery  .        , 

its  general  form  . 

its  mode  of  occurrence 

its  state  of  preservation 

its  laminae  and  chambers 

its  canals  and  tubuli  . 

its  funnels  . 

its  minute  granular  structure 

its  characters  and  afifinities 

objections  to  its  animal  nature 

acervuline  specimens . 

in  various  places 

Bavarian  species 

■  Tudor  specimen 

fragments  of,  in  limestones 


PAGE 

.      17 


.       18 

•  93 

137,  303,  324 
.      68 

•  3n 
•     161,  239 

.     174 
56 

.    324 

•  32 
88,  91 

36,  56,  310 

•  325 
66,  295 

217,  296 
73,  125 

•  149 
90 

.     in 
152,  157 
^33,  138,  158,  160 
.     152 

.  n3 
'  307 
.     221 

.     203 

141,  233 

71,213 

.      68 

.     183 


334 


INDEX 


i 


Eozoon,  restoration  of 

Eozoic  time  as  a  geological  age 

Etcheminian  system   . 

fossils  of     .        .        . 

Evolution,  pre-geological     , 

Foraminifera,  notice  of  modern 

Etcheminian      .        . 

Huronian   .        .        . 

Laurentian,  etc. . 

Fossils,  how  mineralized     , 

Glauconite,  mineralizing  fossils 
Granular  structure  in  Eozoon 
Graphite  of  the  Laurentian 
Gregory  on  Eozoon     .        • 
Grenvillian  series 
Gresley  on  Huronian  worms 
Gumbel  on  European  Eozoon 

Hall,  Dr.  James,  on  Cryptozoon 
Hanford  Brook,  section  at 
Hastings  series  (Huronian  ?) 
Hinde  on  Archaeocyathus  . 
Hunt,  Dr.  Sterry,  on  indications 

on  silicates  in  fossils  . 

Huronian  system         .        • 
Hymenocaris      .        •        • 

Jones,  T.  Rupert,  on  Eozoon 
JuUien  on  Eozoon 

Kewenian  or  Kewenawan  series 
King,  Prof.,  on  Eozoon 


of  li 


fe 


PAGK 

327 

76 

48 

54 

320 

175 

59 

71 

303 

III 

217, 

298 

165 

93 

235, 

325 

39 

68 

71, 

213 

36, 

310 

• 

51 

• 

67 

34, 

317 

• 

97 

• 

298 

• 

65 

• 

27 

75, 

137 

• 

235 

• 

48 

• 

221 

INDEX 


335 


310 

51 

67 

317 

97 
298 

65 
27 


Laurentian  system      .        , 

its  limestones     . 

L.ivis,  Dr.  Johnson,  on  Eozoon 
Life  in  Early  Cambrian 

in  pre-Cambrian         , 

in  Huronian        .        . 

in  Laurentian      .        , 

Limestones  of  Laurentian  . 
Logan,  Sir  W.,  on  Eozoon  . 
Loganite  in  Eozoon     . 
Long  Lake,  Specimens  from 
Lowe  as  explorer 

Map  of  Laurentian  America 

Grenville  limestone    . 

Matthew,  Dr.,  on  Archasozoon 

on  Etcheminian 

McMullen  as  explorer 
Mobius  on  Eozoon 
Murray  on  Signal  Hill  beds 

Nummulite  .        , 


Objections  . 
Ocean  of  Cambrian 

of  Laurentian 

Olenellus  zone 


Petite  Nation       .        ,  , 

Pole  Hill,  specimen  from  . 
Pre-Cambrian  life 
Pre-Cambrian  rocks  in  Canada 

Pre-geological  evolution  . 

Pre-Palaeozoic  life        .  , 
Pyroxene  in  Eozoon    . 


FACB 

• 

71 

• 

92 

235 

.325 

• 

17 

• 

50 

• 

65 

• 

71 

• 

92 

• 

129 

• 

128 

190, 

208 

131. 

141 

• 

85 

• 

88 

214, 

309 

48,5 

',  54 

• 

128 

161, 

162 

• 

53 

163, 

186 

• 

221 

i£ 

!,2I 

• 

85 

• 

10 

• 

141 

• 

118 

• 

47 

• 

76 

• 

320 

• 

216 

167, 

169 

i 


33^ 


INDEX 


Receptacuhtes     . 

Robb,  Pole  Hill  specimens 

Serpentine,  mineralizing  fossils 

different  origins  of 

Signal  Hill  series 
Silicates,  mineralizing  fossils 
Spines,  use  of      .        .        , 
Stromatopora}      .        ,        , 
St.  Pierre,  Cote  . 

Table  of  the  history  of  life  . 

of  pre-Cambrian  formation 

Triarthrus    .        .        .        , 
Tubuli  of  Eozoon 

Van  Hise  on  pre-Cambrian 

Varieties  of  Eozoon    . 

Vennor  referred  to      .        .        , 

Walcott  on  Lower  Cambrian      . 

on  fossils,  Colorado  C  non 

Weston,  Mr.,  referred  to     . 
White,  Prof.  C.  A.,  on  chronology  of 
Wilson,  Dr.,  referred  to      . 
Worm-burrows  in  Huronian 
Worm-trails  in  Lower  Cambrian,  etc. 


fe 


PAGE 

.     301 

.     147 
167,  171 

•  53 
217,  298 

•  30 

•  ^73 
88,  91 

2 
.      76 

•  25 
60,61,  159 

66,  329 

107,  202 

69 

40,  62 

57 

131 

7 
127 

67 
40,43 


PACK 

.  301 

.  147 
167,  171 

■   53 
217,  298 

•  30 

•  ^73 
88,  91 

2 
.   76 

•  25 
60,61,  159 

66,  329 

107,  202 

69 

40,  62 

57 

131 

7 
127 

67 
40,43 


